This year I have kept the political commentary in a separate location. Similarly, thoughts and observations are in a separate file. This file will attempt to stay restricted to my current history.
The Dog - BandidoBandido I inherited this puppy and wrote so much about him
that I separated his life from mine. Click on the picture to
get to the dog's file.
Mari agreed to keep the dog for the day while I went across the border
for blood tests. She promised to be there early when I
arrived. I needed a menu of tests as I have consistently
complained of tiredness. I took my monthly INR test in 57 as I
like the consistency and I had no standing order from Susie available
for the American lab.
But, as I have learned -- never trust a woman to keep a
schedule. Mari was not home. She was at the Mexican government
office with her sister to get a birth certificate. No, I could
not take the puppy to her and no, she would not leave her sister.
But in the almost completed new house, the puppy had been kept in a
back bedroom while it was with them. Leave puppy there and she
would attend to him when she got home. Right.
Sure enough, right where she said it was, was a large section of
3-ply wood. And there was water in the room and a section of
unfinished concrete where puppy could do his jobs. I left puppy
eating and put the 3-ply in the doorway and left. Puppy climbed
the 3-ply (as I have come to find out, puppy is a good climber) and was
happily trotting along next to me. I got a bigger piece of 3-ply
and walked around it then placed it firmly against the doorway.
No. Puppy forced his nose between the wood and door frame and again was
happily trotting along next to me.
I got a 4x8 section of 3-ply , put it in the doorway and propped the
original up against it. No way out for the puppy. Nor any
way out for me. But the windows were not framed and I climbed out
the window. The ground was further down than I expected and I
landed on my left foot. I expected this but I instantly
discovered that my foot could not take my body weight without damage to
my ankle. I went down to my knee but my knee had the same
problem: it would break if I kept my weight on it. So I collapsed
onto my left side as I hit the ground. My thigh and shoulder took
the weight. I was OK and the puppy could not follow. A few
yips and I was gone.
By the time I got to the blood lab I could barely walk and was using
my walking stick to hold my weight. By the time I got to WalMart
I could barely stand up at all. I begrudged the woman who
obviously could move much faster than myself for taking the last
motorized shopping cart. It hurt. I should have gone straight to
bed but you know me. Maybe most men. By the time I got to
Mari's and picked up the dog I was in so much pain that I did not even
try to stand up. The dog was happy to leave. I was
surprised. I noticed Beto again was kicking the dog in the
mouth for biting. More training, less Beto.
By morning, even with the hotpad, I could not stand up. As you
know, most painkiller medicine contains aspirin or Ibuprofen --
precluded by my Warfarin. Tylenol my be good for women's cramps
but I have never met a man for whom it was any use at all. That
includes me. I tried a few Tylenol. I threw them up.
I could not walk up and down my steps. The dog went hungry that
day. Sunday, I crawled down the steps and fed the dog and then
crawled back up. My thigh hurt so much and would take no weight
at all. My shoulder hurt but I did not worry about that.
What I did worry about was internal bleeding. That is how the
Warfarin kills rats. It could do the same for me. But there
were no black and blue marks. Just pain. Monday I went to
the doctor who quickly examined me and assured me that it was just a
badly bruised muscle and I would walk again in a week. In a week,
I could walk but it hurt and the steps were a real problem. Now
my knee let its vote count: it could not take weight even if my thigh
could take weight. No complaints from my ankle.
So now it is the first week of February. As of Sunday most of
the pain is gone. My weak knee still votes occasionally but for
the most part, I am back to normal. Puppy is his usual
self.
I shall have Ernesto wash and wax the RV this week when I go to San
Luis with the puppy. He needs his vaccinations to cross the
border. Interesting. In California for the dog to travel
outside, he needs to be cross-tied so that he cannot jump or fall
out. In California and Arizona, if he is inside, he has to have
good ventilation. I have found no laws regarding crossing the
border for him to be in or out. I think some guards could get
bitten by less amiable dogs.
I cannot even tell you which year. Somewhere around
1965. There were rumors that the Milwaukee Braves were moving to
Atlanta. The rumors were so pervasive that Hank Aaron, number 44,
the fielding, home hitting star of the team went on TV and denied the
move. Additionally, he stated that if he were wrong and the team
moved, he himself would stay in Milwaukee. Milwaukee is an ethnic
city. Strong cultural values. German, Polish, Italian,
family types. Russians. Integrity and family count for a
lot in Milwaukee. The Braves announced the very next day after
Hank Aaron's TV speech that they were moving to Atlanta and that
nothing was going to stop them. Hank stopped making speeches for a
while as he also moved to Atlanta. I stopped watching
baseball.
I know: they were all gone too. Andy Pafco, Lew Burdettte, Warren
Spahn, Johnny Logan, Del Crandel, Red Shoendienst. I could name
them all. But they did not go on TV and lie to their loyal
fans. They just left with the team.
30 years later when my employer provided an afternoon off
work, a free bus ride, a free sweatshirt, and a free ticket
to the San Francisco Giants game, I continued at my desk working. Not
even a second thought. Not holding a grudge. There was just
no interest left in watching a dead game.
I hear a lot of old names attached to new cities. I hear a lot
of new names attached to old cities -- and new cities. There is still a
World Series. When, as a kid in the summer, there was a bus from
the Wauwatosa Athletic Center to a Braves game, I went every
chance. The bleachers right over left-center field.
Milwaukee County Stadium. The Knothole Club. 35
cents. Hot dogs and soda were extra. Sunburn. All of it.
And it all died that day -- it died the day that Henry Aaron could no
longer be my hero.
The new highway to Puerto Peñasco is open. It ends a couple of
kilometers north of town abutting the highway from El Golfo to San
Luis. I understand that this is a good highway. I hope so
because now it is a disaster for travel to San Luis. South of El
Doctor, major stretches are under reconstruction. The
reconstruction apparently will go from El Doctor right into El
Golfo. When this is completed, the dirt detours will be gone and
maybe also the dangerous S-curve on the cliff side.
The dirt detours are tolerable except when you get behind one of
18-wheelers. Then the dust is so high you cannot see and since
the truck driver is Mexican, he does not slow down on detours.
Mostly I do not either but then I am not creating a wall of dirt.
But north of El Doctor is a different problem. The highway
between San Luis and El Golfo was designed for cars and farm
implements. It was not intended for commercial trucking traffic
or the truckloads of dirt being hauled in both directions. I
understand the commercial traffic: a couple hundred miles have just
been excised from the trip from the EEUU to Puerto Peñasco and the new
highway is open road to them. I do not understand the truckloads
of dirt. I see these big semi-sized trucks carrying dirt.
Sometimes north and sometimes south. From where I sit, dirt is
dirt. Transporting it in both directions makes no sense to
me. But then I am not a Mexican -- yet.
There are some potholes on the old highway. A few are refilled
with asphalt. Not many. Some are refilled with sand.
Again, not many. The potholes may be deep enough to ruin your
wheel alignment. But the real problem is that these heavy trucks
have removed entire sections of asphalt. There are bands across
the road where there is no asphalt, only underlying gravel or
sand. Not just a couple of these. Many of these and they
vary from about 3 meters wide to about 30 meters. At the current
rate, there shall be no asphalt at all between Riito and El Doctor in a
few more months. And there will be broken axles and blown
tires. And no one seems to care. All of the attention is on
the new highway south of El Doctor and, if we are lucky, these repairs
will be completed in another year. It may become safer to shop in
Tucson than Yuma. Tourists leaving El Golfo are now using that
route.
Bad and getting worse.
There are not so many drug pongas arriving in El Golfo now.
Most are ending their northward trek in Puerto Peñasco -- now that the
drugs can be driven along the new highway across the border.
Fishermen are learning new trades as there are fewer fish.
Corvina are running this week so when the wind is down, the fishermen
are out. But for the last year we have had too much wind. I
was given a corvina last night. This will feed me for a
week. Longer if I liked fish head soup -- which I do not.
My neighbor just opened a new restaurant: "El Cameron Feliz".
It is a good restaurant and it is getting a lot of business from the
RV park. And a couple of local police have started eating there
instead of at Magui's. Magui moves out of her building next month
and expanding her home to be the restaurant. In another month,
neither will have much business as the tourist season ends at Easter --Semana Sancta.
This will be a problem. I mean Semana Sancta will be a
problem. Holy Week is always the high point of tourism in El
Golfo. The businesses are already gearing up for it.
Between the bad highway and the notices to not visit Mexico put out by
the American government and the newspapers, I doubt there will be many
tourists. Either problem but not both problems together will keep
all but the most die-hard tourists away. Semana Sancta for El
Golfo is like Christmas for American merchants: it can be an all or
nothing for them. People from Phoenix or Tucson can come through
Puerto Peñasco but anyone from California or Yuma will find disaster in
front of them.
This pope has diarrhea of the mouth and seems to really be out of
touch. With all of his words, the only communication seems to rival my
buddy at the El Golfo Times. I shall concede that it took me 60
years to see the light and realize that the entire Jesus story is a
hoax but then so is the Muslim story, etc. But religion has its
place for people who need something more than common sense to have
moral values. I have no grudge with them except when they insist
upon invading the world with their prejudices. This pope seems to
be really good at this. He reinstates a bishop who denies the
holocaust -- within a month of the bishop reiterating his stance in a public forum and again after he is reinstated.
But going to Africa and telling people to not use condoms is
sick. Yes, I know the Catholic teaching that killing sperm
without it being given a chance to impregnate a woman is a sin.
This sin includes condoms, masturbation, early withdrawal , any device
keeping the sperm from an ovum, any chemical preventing the ovum from
accepting the sperm, and any chemical modulating the metabolism of the
woman to restrict the ova or prevent them from attaching to her if and
when it is fertilized. I guess male "wet" dreams do not count as
killing sperm. We all know what they call women who follow the
church teachings on what time of the month they should permit sex.
But enough. The problem is that this pope has gone to Africa
and denounced condoms. Condoms are the single device available to
reduce AIDS/HIV. This puts him in the unique position of denying
that the world has changed in 2000 years -- and then it was a better
world. It has changed in 40 years. While I was a college
student, you could be sent to jail for buying a condom (Wisconsin state
law). Now you can be sent to jail for not using a condom (if you
knowingly have an STD).
Africa is a place where the mores of the western world have been
accepted very slowly. The Christian man-of-one-wife is new to
them. Sex with only one person is not the norm and so the spread
of STD's has been a serious problem. How do you slow down the
spread of STD's? Use a condom. How do you condemn a
continent to painful death? Do not use a condom. And remember
where these STD's came from: they came from men not having freedom of
sex with women and using substitutes (sheep and monkeys). Does
this pope really believe that he can roll the clock back 2000
years. I think he would discover that the only difference between
then and now is mass communication and improved condoms. I doubt
seriously that sex habits changed for the worse since Jesus.
The really bad thing is that these teachings encourage the concept
that people who go against the law (God's or man's) deserve what they
get. Condemning a person to AIDs because they did not follow your
God's law is so perverted that I find it unbelievable that they have
not impeached this pope.
Last year or so I saw the Border Patrol checking card going south
into Mexico. That was one time and I presume they had a singular
purpose. As of Thursday (April 2) they seem to have installed
themselves permanently. At San Luis, the usual two-three lanes
going south with the orange plastic barricades forcing some separation
are gone. Now there is one lane with the orange barricades
forcing all traffic through into a row of Border Patrol agents peering
into each car. I did not see a dog but I figure from the news
clips that there was one.
I hope that the northbound San Luis Border Patrol apes do not talk
to the southbound people or I shall become a harassment target in both
directions. In any case the rush hour traffic jam south if they
keep the one-lane funnel will become a nightmare on the American side.
They talk about weighing cars going into Mexico. This is an
interesting concept. My gas tank hold 20 gallons. 4 quarts to a
gallon. 2 pints to a quart. one pound for each
pint. 160 pounds of gasoline. In other words, if I
just to to the USA and fill up the gas tank, I weight 160 pounds more
going south. But I buy things too. Enough to raise the
front so that people flash their headlights at me all the way
home. Add another 80 pounds for the milk. Another 100 for
groceries, etc. I weight 340 pounds more going south than I
did going north. This is like having two more people in the
car.
Why do these things matter? If they are weighing cars going
south, then they must have a giant database of car weights. They
can list tare (curb weight empty) weights but then they have to
figure if the additional weight is "reasonable". Between the dog
and I, you can ad another 300 pounds. Another 50 for the junk
with which I normally travel. This puts me at about 700 pounds
above tare. This should shout alarms to anyone if the database
base weight is tare.
If they measure weight difference going south compared to coming
north, the 700 pounds is only 340. This should still be enough to
get someone's interest.
With gas and grocery price differences, I do not think I am the
exception. I go out Algodones and come back in San Luis.
This might set off alarms. I do not know and they are not
telling. I am no threat to anyone but I do not fit into anyone's set of
"standard" metrics so I can expect more and more inspections on the
American side. I think so can many other semi-resident tourists.
The dermatologist sprayed off some minor things this week and
excised one larger one. No surprises. The cardiologist told
me to expect another stress test/angiogram this summer. These
things really scare me. Last time I convinced the cardiologist --
a different one -- to not use anesthesia as I had to drive home
afterwards. I enjoyed watching the camera traveling around inside
me -- exactly what scares enough people that they move and therefore
the reason for the anesthesia. The frightening part is the hole
in my artery in my leg for the camera/cable. When they are
finished they insert a slow-dissolving plug. The intent is for
this plug is to hold in the blood until the artery heals over the cable
hole. The problem is that if my blood pressure surges, it can pop
the plug. If this happens I spend the remaining 2 minutes of my
life making peace with my maker since there is not enough time to
do anything else. Blood pressure surges? Walking, standing up,
going up or down stairs. The stairs are absolutely
forbidden. There are 4 steps up in my motor home. If I live
through entry, I can stay in the RV for a week. The first step is
the most dangerous. Then there is the dog. Oh. And lifting:
a gallon of milk exceeds the lifting limit.
And who will check on me and why should they? If I can make it
to my bed, it is all down hill from there. And of course, the
insurance will not pay for a 24-hour stay in the hospital to make sure
the plug stays in place for that long. Banks and insurance
companies, you have heard me go off on them before. They make
excessive profits, under-pay their people, and cry that at 25% on
credit card bills, that they are bankrupt and need my tax money
too? For this they threaten my life for refusal to pay for enough
care time to make sure the plug sets properly and does not just pop out
on its own volition. I hate insurance companies. I guess if
you have a wife, she can pray with you for those 2 minutes and call for
the coroner afterward.
For several weeks now the area around and south of the Salton Sea has had minor earthquakes. 3 on the scale being the highest recorded. But it is the number and the ongoing and the south that is of my concern. The earthquake map shows the latest and largest quakes near Guadeloupe Victoria -- known as 43 around here. This is 43 km from Mexicali as the crow flies (more or less). You can place us at about 100km on the same line. That is less than 40 miles from here. A few months ago I felt one of these minor quakes. A more serious quake would not surprise me.
Well, Easter week came and went. My birthday came and went. My puppy is now a dog and I understand the concept of "Man's Best Friend". The weather is moving from warm days and cools nights to hot.
My little AC units work their hearts out. I love it. I
have two 5,500 BTU air conditioners mounted in my front window.
Each draws 4 amps. I have them set a 4 degrees of each other so
that they only both run when one cannot keep the RV cool. What is
there to love? Elkhart is dead.
It never occurred to the RV manufacturers to make RVs efficient. There is little insulation in the walls or ceiling. I have the luxury of a double roof thanks to a hail storm a few years back. But the RV comes with two roof AC units and a current monitor to make sure they do not run at the same time -- or they will blow a 30-amp fuse. This means that they uses as much electricity as 8 of my little wall units. And what to I get for these two roof units? Almost as much cooling as my two wall units. The wall units will keep my feet cold they work so well. The roof units circulate air better but then a couple room fans do even better. The roof units will maintain a higher noise level and keep the RV vibrating and although their cooling units will not run simultaneously, their fans will. This produces a nice harmonic that drives me nuts. Elkhart? If they had any interest in conserving energy, they might still be in business. Oh, it is the price of gasoline? The absurd excess usage of electricity by the RV units has caused various states to pass laws for RV parks to add electric surcharges to their park membership contracts. And then there are the generators. You know the ones by Onan and that other company.
These Onan ("The Quiet Company") generators make so much noise that
many parks, public and private, have banned their usage. Oh, for
the last several years Onan and the other company have finally taken to
heart the noise issue and the current models come with sound
insulation. Too little sound insulation. Too late. I
have a 5.5kw Onan, new one, side wall insulation. Better than the
old one. Mostly the engine clogs up with dried gasoline for lack
of use because I have this 1kw Honda that runs everything except
heating and the microwave -- and it is so quiet that you have to be
next to it to know that it is running. And the Honda has an
inverter to guarantee 60 cycles and 120vac. The Onan cannot
maintain 60 cycles to saves its life and the voltage varies all over
the map. This does awful things to electronics and you are always
aware it is running because of the constant changing of power as it
attempts to maintain a constant RPM since without this 60 cycles is a
joke. But Elkhart could have required more of Onan. I mean
Honda is not magic. Little elves do not make them. Oh. Size
makes a difference? Sit a 1kw Honda next to a 1kw Coleman say
that again.
No. The RV industry is dead. It did not have to be dead.
But it died because it made poor quality products that ran so
inefficiently that they became the figurehead of profligate waste. My
RV makes a nice home -- but it will never ride the highways again --
even if gasoline went back down to 75 cents per gallon. Oh, the
price of gasoline was the straw that broke the industry's back.
Bad management and faith in a lunatic president (GWB) bankrupted the
entire economic backbone of the country. Banks, Industry.
GM. Chrysler. Ford may survive. Maybe. But only
those able to reduce costs to a third world level will survive. I
hope to be one of them. Right now I am borderline.
My Ranger had a flat tire this last week. Something on the El
Golfo highway detours tore a hole in the old one. $122 at
Discount Tire. Sam's Club does not stock the size. You
would think the would but the Ranger has a strange tire size.
When my RV was new, a tire for it cost about this much. Now a
mounted tire for the RV costs more than $500. Not going to
happen. I wonder if Costco stocks the Ranger size? I had
better check before it happens again.
Prices. It seems that prices for things that you need are
increasing rapidly. Prices for things that you want are going
down just as fast. Excuse me: I had to sneeze. I had better
turn off one of my AC units. I made the right decision on these
units. I went into Costco one day and saw a trail of these going
out the door. $90 each. I bought one. The next week
they were gone. The following week, they were back at $100.
I bought two. One as a spare. It is still under my bed
waiting for one of the originals to die. I saw equivalent units
at Costco this week: $130.
But things never stay the same. Marisol got divorced.
Complete. She got the kid. He got the house. He does
not like me and so I probably will have to move. When she told me
that she would divorce him, I expected that he would get the house but
she assured me that that would not happen. Now my tension level
has increased. I have not heard from him. I hear his new
wife is very thin. I suspect that she will not like me either.
I have a few choices but the easiest is to move back into the RV
park. Cost is about the same as here but I lose the (false?)
independence that I have here. The park cost is about $180 per
month with my current contract. Here the cost is about $200 for
electricity and water -- but there was $5,000 that I put in for the
fence and hookups and septic tank. Divide the number of months
into that and today you get another $200 per month. Lost if I
move out. If I am lucky, he will not be here much more than
Marisol. I may attempt to buy the house from him. Then I would
fix it up a bit and rent it out. I think I could make a profit at
that. Outside fixing is primarily painting and completing the
electric work. Inside, I would split the new bathroom into a bath
and a kitchen and add a water heater. I think about $2,000 would
do it all. If I could buy it for $15,000 with a favorable
contract, I would do it. Rent for $200 per week with a $50
cleaning fee would be about right. Provide sales information
including cheap Mexican liability insurance and it becomes a great
holiday home. Motel rooms are going at $60 per night.
Pretty brochures passed around town and discounts for CRA guests would
do for marketing. A nice picture page on this web site would not
hurt.
If I move to the park, I have to chain the dog. That would
make us both unhappy. Nothing ever stays the same. She had
choices. I do not know it all but she had the choice to keep the
house. She told me that.
I have heard from them. Sort of. Marisol tells me that Beto
will continue to permit me to live on the lot. I have tried to
contact him but he is not available.
I really get tired of this Mexican Macho shit. And it is worse
than shit. It pervades the entire male Mexican personality.
I met a woman this month who had had all of her front teeth knocked
out by her husband. She had been in a coma in the hospital for
months. After running up a serious phone bill at a friend's
house, she returned to her abusive husband. He will hit her again.
The first question I always get asked by any Mexican about my dog: "Does he bite?" Why? All
of the Mexican men down to little boys teach all puppies and dogs to
bite them. And they do not understand when I tell them to stop
teaching my dog to bite. This week a Mexican young man with whom
I am acquainted walked up and without saying anything to or about the
dog started slapping him on the sides of his face. Back and forth until
the dog bites them. Then they hit the dog for doing so. All
Mexican males. Every time. On the third time telling this man to
stop, he did so but did not understand why I did not want my dog biting
people.
If they are not teaching him to bite, they are teaching him to jump
on them. Beto arrived the other morning (at 4 a.m.) and the dog
started jumping on him. He encouraged it. I told the dog to
stop and asked Beto to tell the dog to stop. He would not and
assured me that it was just fine to have the dog jumping on him.
Right. Beto is over 6 feet tall. The dog comes to his
chest. Dido (the dog) is 21 inches when standing normally.
He weighs 50 pounds -- and is skinny. He is quite capable of
knocking down all children and many adults with this jumping. And
as an Alpha dog, it is his nature to do this. Only with
consistent training have I been able to keep his feet on the
ground. As I told my kids when they were small, it takes 10 times
of proper behavior to make up for 1 time improper. For each
Mexican that encourages my dog to jump on him, it takes me 10 or more
times of telling Dido not to. Do you know what a little kid
thinks of a dog that knocks them to the ground and stands on them
waiting for them to play? And it is not the kid I worry
about. I worry about the mother, father, and my dog.
Little girls are not immune to stupid behavior with the dog.
They also try to get the dog to jump -- but not on them. They try
to get the dog to jump out of the pickup. He can do this but it
hurts him: with his weight, his legs collapse. And hey flutter
their hands cutely at their sides as they turn from the dog.
Right, my dog will jump them every time for either action. The
hand fluttering will encourage him to jump. Turning your back on
him is like a sheep running away: it is his job to stop them - and he
will proudly do so.
The Mexican drivers are worse than the Elkhart/South Bend
drivers: they do not want you to pass them. On the open highway
they will accelerate to absurd speeds to keep you behind them. If
they are behind you, they will tailgate and then will pass cutting you
off so short that you hit the brakes -- brakes chattering from the
ABS. This may be necessary as they have no concept of measuring
oncoming traffic. If the oncoming traffic comes too close, they
will drive into your side.
Backing up is dangerous. Really dangerous! Why?
Because a Mexican driver going forward will not wait for you. If
he thinks it is possible to go behind you and live, he will. He
does not care if you hit him backing up as you will have to pay for his
damages and if you are a gringo he knows that you can pay a lot.
Probably pay much more than his pickup is worth. And a Mexican on
a motorcycle? You have not seen stupid until you have seen a
Mexican on an ATV.
I am really surprised that more children are not killed.
Really. There are no sidewalks. There are no zoning setback
requirements. This means that houses and fences are built right
to the street. Especially dangerous at corners since when driving
you must stop and look around the fence to see any oncoming traffic --
and the Mexicans are not as cautious as I am. And the kids always
play in the streets: there is no place else for the small child to
play. The bigger kids can go to the park but mostly they play in
the street.
But it really gets worse. The other day I approached the
Second Hand lot on the main road. It was a Sunday so there was a
continuous line of cars returning north to go back home from the
weekend. Not a close string but enough that crossing the street
between them was a problem. The pickup behind me was far enough
back and a family was trying to cross the road. Two adults and
several children. I stopped far enough to the left so that it
would be difficult to pass me. The family could be seen on the
right until they walked in front of me. Stopping like this is
fairly common practice since pedestrians have the right of way in
Mexico. Instead of stopping, the pickup behind me, a typical
Mexican male, sped up and went around me: he saw the opportunity to be
in front of someone. Macho. And the little boy who ran
ahead of the family was running right in front of him. The pickup
driver slammed on his brakes and stopped 6 feet beyond the boy.
The parents of the boy had yelled at him to stop and he did -- or he
would have been dead. And the driver was not a tourist going
home: he was a local and turned into town at the next stop sign.
I doubt that he even cared that he almost murdered someone.
The examples could go on forever. It is always a "I am better
than you" -- and it is not a game with the Mexicans -- it is a way of
life. Macho kills.
In my life I have bought and sold more houses than I am happy
about. A good real estate agent can handle many of the pot holes
in this maneuver. Everything centers around the selected title
company. The seller generally selects the title company.
Because the title company is so critical, I learned to add to any house
purchase agreement a one line caveat: "Right of refusal of the title
company". Why? Because some title companies simply do not
do their job. What is their job?
The title company job is to provide an insurance policy guaranteeing
that the home you are buying is clear of any debts, liens, or whatever
when you make your contract with your mortgage company. The title
company examines the history of the property to make sure that you and
your bank are the sole owners of the property. That is, there are
no outstanding liens on the property. Your bank requires this
guarantee for obvious reasons.
To make sure that the current transaction is properly performed and
recorded, you pay the title company a fee in addition to the insurance
policy. The purchase/sale of the property will include at
document enumerating costs, fees, loans, and money involved to close
the transaction.
This document is prepared by the title company at the direction of
the seller -- usually his agent. It is dated since the payoff of
previous notes must be precise, the ownership of impound funds
designated, new loans enumerated. All money transferred in either
direction are listed on this document.
Most people just accept their agent's word that the document is correct. This is a mistake.
On each and every house sale I have made, there has been at least
one error on this document. An error that either my agent or the
title company should have at least questioned. Here is the
problem.
The title company accepts a fee for their work usually corresponding
to a percentage of the contract. They create this document and
expect everyone else to correct it. I have had three very
negative experiences. One was with my Boca house where the seller
pick an title insurance attorney rather than a name company. The
seller must provide the title insurance policy itself -- and pay for
it. But the title company charges may be distributed in whatever manner
the title compete wants. These show up on the
document. The one time I forgot to add my caveat, the Florida
Title Attorneys put all of their charges on my column and said it was
their option. This added over $2,000 to my costs. Most of
their charges were bogus. They charged for time and space in their
offices for a closing which happened elsewhere claiming that they had
reserved the people and space regardless of whether they had been used.
This is the nature of the level of deceit of the Title
Companies. One experience with Chicago Title resulted in my
having to go to the Federal Banking Commission and another federal
agency to get money agreed upon as mine, returned to me as Chicago
Title had informed the previous lien holder to refund the impound fund
to the previous owner. I got no assistance from Chicago Title in
correcting this error. They claimed that the document stood and
it was my job to enforce the correction of their procedural
error. The document listed the impound fund correctly as
mine. The normal situation for the buyer. The bank - under
orders -- replaced the impound amount to my name. I presume that
the original owner needed to prepay them but that at least was not my
problem. During the two years it took to correct this, the
original bank and Chicago Title were both unable to locate their files
on the transaction.
The third problem was with Minnesota Title. They simply did
not do their job. I was selling a home with a primary VA mortgage
to be assumed and a secondary mortgage which was to be paid off.
At the same time, I was buying a new home with a new mortgage. It
was the title company's job to obtain the payoff balances of the
existing mortgages so that I would bring to the closing a check for the
exact amount.
I arrived at the closing and it was about to not happen because
Minnesota did not bother to obtain these balances. I had brought
a check for the amounts that I knew. I also brought $14,000 in
cash to cover the unknown amounts. The amounts were unknown to me
but were supposedly known by the title company. Minnesota Title
basically admitted they did not do their job but put the ball in my
court to correct it. I did so.
At the table with everyone sitting there, including the Minnesota
Office Manager, I placed phone calls to the 4 loan companies involved
and obtain balances from them. Since Minnesota Title would not
accept these numbers coming from me, I had people at the loan companies
record the information while they waited for a call from Minnesota
Title (at the table) to obtain the figures -- which would also be sent
by messenger as confirmation.
Now Minnesota updated the document and determined the exact amount
that I needed. They refused to accept cash. I was very
angry at this point. I had done their job. It was after
hours. People at banks had divulged over the phone payoff amounts
that could have cost them their jobs. Minnesota would not
accept cash. With all of this they were about to refuse to
continue the closing. The office next door was a bank --in the same building
. I refused to walk the 100 feet to the bank to obtain a
cashier's check. For the amount of money they were being paid and
for which they did not earn, they could walk the 100 feet. And
the bank was about to close. The real estate agents refused to
touch the cash. The cash was on the table. A different
title company would have the contract the next day as I was going to be
out of town. Someone from Minnesota Title finally took the cash,
got the cashier's check, and we finished the closing.
To be fair, I purchased a townhouse where there were errors in the
recorded title and the title company took the effort to correct them
before closing. The one time that I was really happy to have
chosen the title company that I had - but I forget its name.
In other words, he bottle neck in buying and selling a house is the
title company. Each office is separately managed so a gross
condemnation of the Minnesota or Chicago Title companies may be
inappropriate. But I tell you that I shall never use either of
them again.
On the other hand, the reason I write this is that I just heard on
the news about a homeowner receiving a foreclosure notice from a bank
for a loan that was never paid off by a previous owner. Identifying
unpaid loans is the job ot the title company. This is what you
are paying them for. When the owners obtaining the foreclosure
notice went to their title company, their title company told them to
get a lawyer. The title company, title insurance document, stated
that they have been paid to legally defend the rights of the new
owner. This title company is Chicago Title. A friend of
mine in Florida had the same problem some years ago. He also had
used Chicago Title. He also had to get his own lawyer.
Enough.
Many years ago, you can look up the dates, events
occurred that I considered important. The Berlin wall came
down. I made both of my young daughters watch that on TV.
Then there was the man standing down the tanks in Tiananmen Square in
China. Again, I had my children sitting in front of the TV. These were serious events. They heralded the
beginning of the end of secret tyranny. Not the end of
tyranny. That will always be with us. But the secret part
was in collapse. I heard that the primary reason that more people
were not jailed and murdered in China was the quantity of FAXes being
sent in and out.
The Iran issue is in the news. It is absurd to think that in such a
contested election that either party walked away with 63% of the
vote. But the world is listening. Either the dictator will
be a dictator in public or he will succumb to election results.
It is way past a fictitious recount. If there is a recount, it
had better be visible to the world because a fictitious recount will just
brand the dictator with more corruption.
In any case, we saw it start in Berlin. We saw it continue in
Beijing. We want it to continue in Iran. But we can only
hope. (At least the cowboy is not the president of our country
any
more.) But we have a serious problem in the United States. I
think John Naisbitt said it well in his 1982 book, "Megatrends".
The future belongs to the communicators. He claimed that people
would split into classes: those able to communicate and those who
cannot.
Since the Sputnik went up in 1957, communication facilities have
exploded. TV showed the destruction of the wall and the man
standing down the tanks. We are currently overwhelmed with
Internet and cell phone text and pictures. Digital cameras the
size of an ice cube. It is not possible anywhere in the world for
anything to happen without some person able to take a picture of it and
probably get sound as well. This is what is happening in Iran.
But. And it is a big but. More and more of our students
are unable to communicate either verbally or on paper. If we do
not stop this dropout rate there is no hope for our country. The
United States is bankrupt. The only way to survive is with a
serious program of training people to work competitively in the
world. You can no longer retire in luxury from screwing mirrors
on the sides of cars. If you are able to retire it is because you
learned how to do the things that other people have learned to
do. You cannot blame your not learning on your teachers.
You can blame it on your parents but after you point the fingers you
must take the responsibility to get up and learn some skills.
Learning to talk would be a good start.
Things go down hill fast. When Beto showed up with his new
"wife" last month a 4 in the morning on a Sunday and told me that the
house and lot were his, I believed him. I have heard rumors that
he refused to sign the final papers. Marisol has texted me saying
to not worry, he will honor my living here. Since I have keys to
the gate but not the house, permitting him that morning was not a
problem although he broke the window screen hoping that the window was
not locked. He could have just removed the spring latch but he is
not that smart.
Marisol's friends moved out all of her belongings. Furniture,
everything. No call from either of them. Mari's sister
Andrea has been most helpful but does not talk to her sister that
much. They all say ot to worry. It has been a month and not an
official word about my situation from anyone.
But I ran into another stupid yesterday. This one cost
me. When Mari bought the house, it had a giant Air Conditioner
unit on the far wall. Typical Mexican: biggest possible
unit. For Mexicans, bigger is better is a life axiom. In
accordance with that principle, the circuit box installed for that unit
contained a 75 Amp double-sided circuit breaker. When we
installed the AC circuit to the RV, we removed the several cables from
the electric company service box and used only the cable to the AC
unit. This was because some of the cables just ended underground
and some were reversed polarity. The house was wired reversed --
randomly! So we ran a cable from the AC box into the house with
its polarity reversed leaving the house with the proper polarity --
mostly.
The first time Beto was in the house and added his bathroom, he
discovered some polarity was reversed. Rather than fixing it, he
installed this maze of cables on the outside of the house back to the
AC box -- now ignoring any in-the-wall circuitry. Stupid.
Ugly. But is solved the problem.
But this last week, a friend of Mari's (as I found out) took the AC
unit out and covered the hole with a wooden panel. this would
have been OK (although I think illegal in the USA), but she also
removed the 75-amp double circuit beaker. And she also left all
of the house wiring and the cable to the plug for the AC unit
disconnected. The house had no power. This is not a problem
for the house since there is nothing inside to use power. The problem
is that my freezer is outside the house and is wired to Beto's
maze. Andrea's husband did that for me when I bought the
freezer. Mari volunteered the location rather than have it
sitting alongside the RV.
Last week. Today I noticed when I removed a gallon of milk
that it was cool and not frozen. After checking my outlet, etc. I went
back to the box and for the first time noticed that the AC unit was
missing. I opened the box and discovered the circuit breakers had
been replaced with a rock. I reconnected the house wiring to the
connector bracket -- sans circuit breakers.
There is no need for a circuit breaker here. There is a double 30-amp breaker at the service box. for the entire lot. When we installed the RV circuit, we added an additional 30-amp breaker for the RV -- on the house side of the service box breakers. Double protection.
I lost about $200 worth of food when it became warm in the
freezer. The entire removal of the AC unit was stupid. Had
anyone told me, I could have helped but nobody is talking to me -
except to tell me not to worry.
The 75-amp breakers, if you are electric-circuit challenged, are
useless. The house will burn down before they will trip. If
there is a problem, the 30-amp breakers at the service box will
break. 75-amps is good enough for many small American
homes. The entire home. One a given power line, the breaker
with the lowest rating will break first. So your house box will
have many 15, 20, and 30 amp breakers for the various locations in the
house. Above these will be the 75-amp double breaker to make sure
that there is not a total house overload. Putting the 75-amp
breaker downhill from the 30-amp breaker invalidates the 75-amp
breaker. Therefore someone has a 75-amp double breaker that may
make them feel good but serves no purpose except taking it cost me $200
worth of food.
Bank of America (BofA) ignored a check
sent to them to pay my monthly MasterCard balance. The same
billpay name and address I always use -- to the address I was
originally given. When the check was not credited, I went to the
BofA web page and had them extract with their billpay, an equal
amount from my checking account. When the check arrived, I should
have a large overpayment/credit. The check never arrived.
At the same time that I authorized the BofA extraction, I notified my
Washington Mutual (WaMu) account that BofA claimed to not have received
the check.
WaMu acknowledged that the check was not cashed. A week later,
I requested WaMu to refund the amount of the "lost" check to my
account. They called BofA and BofA (Crystal) lied to them.
BofA
denied the transfer from my WaMu account and claimed that they had
cashed the original check. Wait for the statement to arrive and
see that this was so. The BofA online statement says that they
credited with the online transfer. No mention of a check. And by the
way, a credit card statement does not say from where they got the
payment. If I had waited there would have been no improvement in
the situation.
Multiple attempts to use the BofA web page mail have now ben refused
access. BofA has stolen my money and does not want to hear about
it except from my lawyer. They will at least have my $840 dollars
until I can get a lawyer or a government agency to investigate.
This may take months.
I have informed WaMu that they have been lied to and given them the
appropriate information but what is their motivation to jump BofA's
case? None. They informed me that the matter was closed and
that I was just out the second $842.01. Sorry. People
wonder why I hate banks? Banks are liars and
thieves. They will only be as honest os someone forces them.
But yesterday I bit the bullet: I called BofA customer
service. I got the same response that WaMu did: the check was
cashed to make the payment but no credit was given for the BofA billpay
although the withdrawal had been made and they had the money. I
asked for a supervisor. Customer Service hung up on me. I
was angry enough to call back and ask for a supervisor. This
woman was patient enough to listen to the entire story and pass me on
to someone else, Steven. Explaining to Steven and his
verification of BofA's actions took about an hour. Together we
called WaMu Customer Service. With the WaMu validation process
and music delays, this took another hour but we got to a WaMu customer
service person who insisted the matter was closed except that Steven
informed her that as a BofA Customer Service person, WaMu had take the
wrong action and that Crystal's information to WaMu was in error.
The Wamu agent verified that the check had not been cashed and put a
stop payment on it resulting, hopefully, in another week, the charge to
be added back to my WaMu balance. I hope.
This process from start to finish took about 3 hours. I was sitting at a Burger King in San Luis, Sonora but near
enough to the border that my tMobile sell phone worked as a local
call. I must thank Steven (BofA) for staying on the line so long
because without his presence the matter would not have been
resolved. When I entered, people on their way to work were
ordering breakfast. Before I left, children waiting for the
super-lunches were running around the tables. My dog had climbed
out and then back into the the truck three times. The temperature
was 105 by the time I got back to the dog.
You can expect occasional errors. That happens. Two things went very seriously wrong here. Not just random errors: Customer Service failures and belligerent attitudes.
The first is that BofA ignored the payment check and lied about
subsequently cashing it. The second was far worse. Washington
mutual could have pursued the matter diligently rather than being
stopped by simple errors. WaMu originally verified the check was
not cashed. Had they continued to verify the status they would
have known that the information from BofA was in error. My final
request to them was to send me a copy of the cashed check. If it had
been cashed, I had evidence to go back to BofA. If it had not
been cashed, I had evidence to WaMu that they had taken incorrect
actions. But WaMu would not even send me a copy of the check in dispute
-- and they admitted that it was a paper check and not an EFT transfer.
WaMu just presumed that their customer was in error causing a
$842.01 permanent loss to me -- even though I provided them with a
simple way to verify where the error had occurred. Banks are not
only dishonest but lazy, corrupt, and whatever else you want to say bad
about them. Never trust ANY bank.
In most cases, I make the payments such as this with slightly
different amounts. For example, rounding up to the nearest
dollar. But the BofA online only permits the exact amount or
less. One penny less would have cost me the late fee that I was
trying to avoid.
A couple of months ago, I turned 65. This means Medicare and
my entire health insurance profile changes. Finally I can get rid
of the SIemens rip off scheme. They act sort of like a Medicare
supplement but not quite as good and charge more. The concept is,
now that you are 65 you can free Siemens of paying for you. But
now I need to find a supplement since Medicare only pays 80% after a
deductible and only at reduced pay schedules that some doctors do not
accept and nothing out of country. So you buy an after-Medicare
supplement. I checked around and found AARP has good rates on
good polices written by United Health Care. United is a typical
health care rip-off expert. No surprises here -- all health care
companies are rip-off artists. This is exactly why we need a
national health care program bypassing these companies. Everybody
want one. The government will not give us one because these same
companies financed their election campaign.
In any case, United Their form stripped the apartment
number from my submission because they claim to not mail to post office
boxes. Then they mailed things to the stripped address. Since my
mail service requires this number -- as they should, the mail service
takes extra steps to get the mail to the correct box. If I do not
correct this, they will charge me extra for it. I corrected this
error t United as rapidly as possible but not before they caused more
problems.
Because some of these places will not change addresses by email and
their online forms do not permit address changes, I emailed them with
the proper information and my FAX number. The FAX number to makes
sure we got this problem resolved as quickly as possible. My
mistake.
United Health Care claims to have a privacy policy.
Immediately upon accepting my policy, the United sold my address to
Walgreen's. They may have sold it elsewhere but Walgreen's
replied to the incorrect address before I even obtained a policy copy
from United. Fast. United should not have given my address,
correct or incorrect to anyone, let alone a national pharmacy.