2:30 am Sunday:
*honk* *honk*
*honk* *hooooooonk*
*honk* *honk* *hooooooonk*
WTF?
i blearily look out my window and there is a chevy cavalier sitting in the middle of my parking lot.
*hooooooonk*
grumbling i get up put on some flannel pants and a shirt and walk downstairs to the door. ren was woken and does the same.
opening the door i walk towards the car. arriving at the car, i say, "are you defective or something? it's 2:30 in the morning!"
window rolls down and there is a little thug chick with the mouth of a trucker. out of the passenger seat steps out a skinny guy in his late teens, early 20s. they decide it would be better to argue with us than to leave the parking lot.
the little thug girl starts to get up into ren's face as the skinny punk threatens me with physical violence, clearly an empty threat as he won't come within 5 feet of me. the yelling match has begun, the little chihuahua starts barking obcenities at my wife and ren starts yelling back. her scrawny boyfriend starts getting up into ren's face as well.
i go inside and grab the phone and dial 9-1-1.
"9-1-1 emergency services, please state the nature of your emergency"
"hi, there is an incident occurring at ... i am afraid there may be some physical violence", as i am glancing out the door at the punks invading my wife's personal space.
the dispatcher is calm in the situation and directs me to get my wife indoors.
"this is a public parking lot", spouts the lanky guy
"no, this is private property", replies ren. at that moment, my next door neighbor slides her window open, now awake to the commotion.
"it's private property!" she yells from her second-floor bedroom. "get their license plate number!"
i give the dispatcher the licence plate number and the details of the silver cavalier with red door panels. the noise continues as i have ren go inside. in the meantime, the guy had gone to my neighbor, laurie's house and starts ringing the doorbell.
shortly after, two cruisers pull up and i walk out to meet the two officers. i explain the situation and they walk over to the parked car. another girl pops out of theback seat of the car. she hadn't said a thing during the whole time.
"officer! i witnessed the whole thing!"
the officer, directs her to get back into the car.
the arrogant guy starts to arugue with the officers and one of the officers replies, "i don't care why you're here, you are causing a disturbance! if you want to get somebody at this time of the night, you get out of your car and use the doorbell."
the punk starts to dare the cop to arrest him and lights up a cig and exhales in the officer's face. this goes on for another couple of minutes; finally the door to my neighbor's condo opens and out comes a young man, hair disheveled. he quietly walks to the car and gets into the back seat, not saying a word. the thug girl and punk guy get into the car and leave.
the cops come back to my door to make sure we were ok.
one of the last thing the cop says to me is, "if they come back and pull that shit again, feel free to smack the shit out of him."
the cop was *pissed* at the punk who had just left. they ended up sitting in their cruisers for a while to make sure the cavalier didn't come back.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
i have nothing interesting to say
just checking in to let everyone know that i am alive. all 1 subscriber (woohoo!).
that is all. you may continue with your lives.
that is all. you may continue with your lives.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
indentity theft crisis
i ended up selling my old nissan altima to a neighbor this weekend and sent ren, my wife to the bank yesterday to deposit the money into our bill account. i usually like to check my bank accounts after large deposits (large being $100 or more) to make sure they posted. when i logged in, i noticed that our account balance was *quite* low, so i clicked on the transactions link to look at what's been up with the account. then it was there. a debit transaction for $2,050 that neither of us had authorized to a "DeMarist, Howell, and Associates" in Louisville, KY.
So right now, we're out of $2,050 until the bank get's everything situated. Of course that money is intended for our bills, so bills will have to go unpaid until we get that money back.
oh and the funny part of all of this? the bank's little banner at the top of my account details page. it reads:
"To learn how we are protecting your accounts from credit and debit fraud click here"
once this is all situated. i am going to be pulling my money from the bank of western massachusetts. they blow. big donkey balls.
So right now, we're out of $2,050 until the bank get's everything situated. Of course that money is intended for our bills, so bills will have to go unpaid until we get that money back.
oh and the funny part of all of this? the bank's little banner at the top of my account details page. it reads:
"To learn how we are protecting your accounts from credit and debit fraud click here"
once this is all situated. i am going to be pulling my money from the bank of western massachusetts. they blow. big donkey balls.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
I am a belittling, moronic, ignorant ass
So...I get an email forward from a friend. It's a petition originating from an AM radio station based out of Springfield, MA (WHYN) that is opposed to the proposed increase to the Massachusetts gas tax ($0.19/gallon). Because my friend had sent the email out as an informational email (kind of as a 'huh, look at this') I noticed that this string originated at my best friend's wife. I decided to create a conversation with Danielle (the friend who forwarded me the email), Mike (my best friend), Kellie (his wife), and Rich (another friend of Mike's and mine), and share my opinion on the matter.
Well this didn't go over very well...Mike over IM basically told me that I am an ass, I belittle people, and am ignorant. Kellie sent me a nice email flame saying I am a moron and that I should move closer to my work and that she wasn't about to pay for my commute. Nice friends, eh?
Well, anyways I wrote a letter to WHYN and emailed it to them. First here is the text of the petition:
"To: His Excellency The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick and any and all members of the Government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts…
To Whom It May Concern;
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS, formally state our objection to any proposed legislation that results in any increase of taxes or associated fees of gasoline in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
We submit that any increase in said gasoline taxes at this time will not benefit taxpayers in the Commonwealth, in any appreciable or meaningful way, especially with the current state of the economy.
Furthermore, we believe it’s not fair to put the burden of overspending and mismanagement of projects in the eastern part of the Commonwealth on citizens of the western part of the Commonwealth. Western Massachusetts citizens rarely, if ever, use these projects (Big Dig, MBTA). Therefore, we don’t feel we should be responsible for “digging” these agencies out of this financial burden.
We respectfully submit this request in the spirit of continuing to exercise our ability to purchase gasoline at a price that allows us to work, take care of our families, and in every other way contribute to the common good of the economy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Sincerely, "
************************************************************************************
And here is my response (you can determine whether I am a belittling, moronic, ignorant ass):
To whom it may concern,
I find the premise of your web petition concerning the increase in the Massachusetts Taxes, simply put, retarded. Let me start off to say that I do agree that the Turnpike Authority and Big Dig has been historically mismanaged.
The text I am referring to is:
"Furthermore, we believe it’s not fair to put the burden of overspending and mismanagement of projects in the eastern part of the Commonwealth on citizens of the western part of the Commonwealth. Western Massachusetts citizens rarely, if ever, use these projects (Big Dig, MBTA). Therefore, we don’t feel we should be responsible for “digging” these agencies out of this financial burden."
It is as if you view Western Massachusetts as its own sovereign state. Just because we don't use the projects doesn't mean we are not ultimately responsible for the funding of the infrastructure. Here are some examples, there are many taxpayers who do not have children, by using this petition as a model, should those taxpayers be required to pay for public schools? Or what about this? I own my own car, why should my taxes go to help fund public transit? I don't use it. See where I am going with this?
Next, in relation to the total population of the state, how does Western Massachusetts fit in? Perhaps 1/6th to 1/5th of the total population of the State? Your petition almost makes it sound like we are bearing the full brunt of the financial burden of this effort. It almost seems like the elimination of the tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike has entitled Western Massachusetts to not be responsible for any of the road infrastructure in the State. So ultimately, who is paying the maintenance of the Massachusetts Turnpike west of exit 6? That would most likely be the people traveling from the East. I haven't heard any rumblings that they think that is unfair from them.
Lastly, coming from a time where were were paying $4/gallon for gas, and going back down to under $2/gallon, $0.19/gallon is not a big stretch. People adjusted and survived to the rising prices of gas during the last administration, and they will adjust and survive this hike in the gas tax.
Sincerely,
David Bunten
Well this didn't go over very well...Mike over IM basically told me that I am an ass, I belittle people, and am ignorant. Kellie sent me a nice email flame saying I am a moron and that I should move closer to my work and that she wasn't about to pay for my commute. Nice friends, eh?
Well, anyways I wrote a letter to WHYN and emailed it to them. First here is the text of the petition:
"To: His Excellency The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick and any and all members of the Government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts…
To Whom It May Concern;
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS, formally state our objection to any proposed legislation that results in any increase of taxes or associated fees of gasoline in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
We submit that any increase in said gasoline taxes at this time will not benefit taxpayers in the Commonwealth, in any appreciable or meaningful way, especially with the current state of the economy.
Furthermore, we believe it’s not fair to put the burden of overspending and mismanagement of projects in the eastern part of the Commonwealth on citizens of the western part of the Commonwealth. Western Massachusetts citizens rarely, if ever, use these projects (Big Dig, MBTA). Therefore, we don’t feel we should be responsible for “digging” these agencies out of this financial burden.
We respectfully submit this request in the spirit of continuing to exercise our ability to purchase gasoline at a price that allows us to work, take care of our families, and in every other way contribute to the common good of the economy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Sincerely, "
************************************************************************************
And here is my response (you can determine whether I am a belittling, moronic, ignorant ass):
To whom it may concern,
I find the premise of your web petition concerning the increase in the Massachusetts Taxes, simply put, retarded. Let me start off to say that I do agree that the Turnpike Authority and Big Dig has been historically mismanaged.
The text I am referring to is:
"Furthermore, we believe it’s not fair to put the burden of overspending and mismanagement of projects in the eastern part of the Commonwealth on citizens of the western part of the Commonwealth. Western Massachusetts citizens rarely, if ever, use these projects (Big Dig, MBTA). Therefore, we don’t feel we should be responsible for “digging” these agencies out of this financial burden."
It is as if you view Western Massachusetts as its own sovereign state. Just because we don't use the projects doesn't mean we are not ultimately responsible for the funding of the infrastructure. Here are some examples, there are many taxpayers who do not have children, by using this petition as a model, should those taxpayers be required to pay for public schools? Or what about this? I own my own car, why should my taxes go to help fund public transit? I don't use it. See where I am going with this?
Next, in relation to the total population of the state, how does Western Massachusetts fit in? Perhaps 1/6th to 1/5th of the total population of the State? Your petition almost makes it sound like we are bearing the full brunt of the financial burden of this effort. It almost seems like the elimination of the tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike has entitled Western Massachusetts to not be responsible for any of the road infrastructure in the State. So ultimately, who is paying the maintenance of the Massachusetts Turnpike west of exit 6? That would most likely be the people traveling from the East. I haven't heard any rumblings that they think that is unfair from them.
Lastly, coming from a time where were were paying $4/gallon for gas, and going back down to under $2/gallon, $0.19/gallon is not a big stretch. People adjusted and survived to the rising prices of gas during the last administration, and they will adjust and survive this hike in the gas tax.
Sincerely,
David Bunten
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
coraline
ren and i went to see coraline last night at 7. the theaters by us have budget tuesdays so tickets are $6 all day. the showing we ended up going to was the 3d version so we got our tru 3d glasses for free. last 3d movie we saw was beowulf (ugh. horrible movie; discussion possibly on a different day) and we were charged an extra $3 for the glasses, so free 3d glasses last night were a plus.
before i go into my thoughts of the movie, i will post some thoughts about those 3d glasses. as a person who wears glasses, i find 3d glasses a pain to put over my other glasses. they slip down my nose and are extremely annoying and then if i push them up, they mash up into my glasses which then get smudged, so i have to take them off an wipe them, thus making me miss parts of the movie or have parts of the movie in a blurry haze. my eyesight is awful, so watching the movie without my glasses is out of the question...they need to come up with a better solution for use glasses wearers :(
ok, back to the movie.
the movie was wonderful. there weren't a lot of 3d gimmicks that most 3d movies use to make you go, 'wow! 3d!'. i am so very glad they did not do this, as i find that very distracting. they used the 3d technology the way they are supposed to, to bring a sense of depth to the world they created. there were some scenes where things do shoot out of the screen at you, like a sewing needle.
the animation is very nightmare before christmas claymationesque. not surprising coming from henry selick. the animation is smooth and the colors and textures are quite well done. character development was almost non-existent, i suppose for the pacing of the story. i never read the book and don't know if there was any more introduction, but through some short dialogue, you find out what you need to know, but not much more than that. the movie has a small "cast" of characters, each with their own quirks.
i am not going to go too much into the plot so i do not ruin it for those who may have not seen the movie yet.
all-in-all, i found the movie enjoyable and entertaining. it was indeed very gaimanesque. the story-telling is on par with his other movies mirrormask and stardust (i am going to pretend he had nothing to do with beowulf). i do, however, feel that it was missing a certain something that i can't quite place at the moment...
before i go into my thoughts of the movie, i will post some thoughts about those 3d glasses. as a person who wears glasses, i find 3d glasses a pain to put over my other glasses. they slip down my nose and are extremely annoying and then if i push them up, they mash up into my glasses which then get smudged, so i have to take them off an wipe them, thus making me miss parts of the movie or have parts of the movie in a blurry haze. my eyesight is awful, so watching the movie without my glasses is out of the question...they need to come up with a better solution for use glasses wearers :(
ok, back to the movie.
the movie was wonderful. there weren't a lot of 3d gimmicks that most 3d movies use to make you go, 'wow! 3d!'. i am so very glad they did not do this, as i find that very distracting. they used the 3d technology the way they are supposed to, to bring a sense of depth to the world they created. there were some scenes where things do shoot out of the screen at you, like a sewing needle.
the animation is very nightmare before christmas claymationesque. not surprising coming from henry selick. the animation is smooth and the colors and textures are quite well done. character development was almost non-existent, i suppose for the pacing of the story. i never read the book and don't know if there was any more introduction, but through some short dialogue, you find out what you need to know, but not much more than that. the movie has a small "cast" of characters, each with their own quirks.
i am not going to go too much into the plot so i do not ruin it for those who may have not seen the movie yet.
all-in-all, i found the movie enjoyable and entertaining. it was indeed very gaimanesque. the story-telling is on par with his other movies mirrormask and stardust (i am going to pretend he had nothing to do with beowulf). i do, however, feel that it was missing a certain something that i can't quite place at the moment...
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
i am a sucker for some bad tv
i must admit, i watch the new knight rider. i grew up watching the original knight rider, but honestly only remember a few episodes...
the new knight rider is not good by any means, but it is interesting how they have made kitt a mustang that can transform into any type of ford vehicle. and the explanation for most of kitt's sophistication is nanotechnology...oh, and the uncredited voice of kitt is none other than val kilmer.
on the other hand: i am am finally caught up on fringe. i am happy to say it is finally starting to get good. walter bishop is the main reason to watch the show, just to see what crazy thing he is going to do or say, like request coffee cake whilst looking at a corpse whose brain liquified and was all over the place. john noble does an excellent job playing a certifiably crazy person.
dollhouse is pretty good. thank god for joss whedon. the first episode made me kind of sad, thinking this series is going to get axed by stupid fox execs, but episode 2 was so much better. i am looking forward to future episodes.
been slowly going through pushing daisies season 1 on blu ray from netflix. i've finished disc 1 and will be starting disc 2 eventually. it's pretty funny, but it's not a show i really am interested watching all at once, which kind of stinks because i've been holding onto the netflix discs for a while now.
ren and i have been going through stargate sg-1, since i got the 10-season box set right before christmas for $50 from amazon.com. we are really liking the show. currently we are in the middle of season 5.
hopefully my future posts will be more interesting and will have more details (don't hold your breath though)
the new knight rider is not good by any means, but it is interesting how they have made kitt a mustang that can transform into any type of ford vehicle. and the explanation for most of kitt's sophistication is nanotechnology...oh, and the uncredited voice of kitt is none other than val kilmer.
on the other hand: i am am finally caught up on fringe. i am happy to say it is finally starting to get good. walter bishop is the main reason to watch the show, just to see what crazy thing he is going to do or say, like request coffee cake whilst looking at a corpse whose brain liquified and was all over the place. john noble does an excellent job playing a certifiably crazy person.
dollhouse is pretty good. thank god for joss whedon. the first episode made me kind of sad, thinking this series is going to get axed by stupid fox execs, but episode 2 was so much better. i am looking forward to future episodes.
been slowly going through pushing daisies season 1 on blu ray from netflix. i've finished disc 1 and will be starting disc 2 eventually. it's pretty funny, but it's not a show i really am interested watching all at once, which kind of stinks because i've been holding onto the netflix discs for a while now.
ren and i have been going through stargate sg-1, since i got the 10-season box set right before christmas for $50 from amazon.com. we are really liking the show. currently we are in the middle of season 5.
hopefully my future posts will be more interesting and will have more details (don't hold your breath though)
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