OK, so it's been 11 days since I last updated my blog. BUT!! I have really good reasons. The last week especially has been extremely stressful. This past weekend, was the BIG move. We also had "J"'s soccer tournament in Peterborough. And then inter-mixed in there is playing soccer and referee games. So there really isn't a lot of time to just sit, relax and smell the roses... But I am happy to report that I can finally see the end of the tunnel. Yes, we still have loads of work to do but at this point it's bearable.

Next week, we get cable installed and I will FINALLY get my Internet access restored. It's been really tough getting the news of the world and I have to resort to being at work to reading my email. I still haven't had a chance to upload the pictures from the camera but this weekend when everything is hooked up I will be doing that and should be to send them up early next week.

I do have to update on one little incident that happened last night. I had a U18M soccer game that I was set to be a linesman for but for some reason the middle referee didn't show up. So since I was older than the other linesman (she was only 17), I got "promoted" to middle referee. This was an Inter-City division-1 game so these guys knew how to play. I definitely blew a couple of calls but overall I think I did a pretty good job at keeping the calm. Happily, the game ended in a 2-2 tie so no one really lost. My referee coordinator happened to drop by because he was going to do an evaluation on me at being linesman. After the game, he did congratulate me saying I did a great job - so naturally that made me feel pretty good. I was only scheduled to be middle ref of a U13 house league game in a few weeks. There's nothing like getting thrown into the fire, eh? At least I know that this is the most competitive it can get so any other game should be easier. But let me tell you - there was a LOT of running in this game.

And finally, I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention my honey's birthday. Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to say when or how old but I can say that she's under 40 and over 20 - I'll just leave it at that. Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

Stay tuned for more updates coming....

Yet another day of rain! I thought we were supposed to get all this in two months ago (April showers brings May flowers......) This whole week has been terrible. Tuesday night's softball game was cancelled, Wednesday's double-header reffing games were cancelled, yesterday's softball game was cancelled and today, there is a good chance my soccer game will be cancelled because of the excessive rain again... arg!!! But it's supposed to clear out by tomorrow so finally we'll get some sunshine.

Wednesday night gave us a chance to finally see the apartment without all of their crap in the place. I tell you - no wonder they had ants and mice... there was still a lot of food in the corners, behind the fridge, behind the stove, behind the where the washer/dryer was... and for some reason the bathroom smelled like piss... did they do it on the floor or was it just because the place was "abandoned" for a few weeks...?? disgusting... (sigh!) we've got a LOT of work to do.

We picked up the paints and supplies yesterday and we'll be starting the work this weekend. We'll only be doing the bathroom since we are getting the floors done on Monday. The whole apartment has wood floors except for the bathroom so re-finishing the floors is going to be a pretty big job... Then once the floors are done we'll be able to tackle the painting of the rest of the place.

Well, today is the day that we finally get the keys for the new apartment. This is an upper duplex that "A"'s mom owns and let me tell you - from the time that we informed the tenants that we would be repossessing the place until now, it has been one incredible uphill battle. These are perhaps the most difficult people I have ever had to deal with. For the purposes of these descriptions, we'll just call these people Nigel and Patricia (Disclaimer: Any similarity between these names and their actual names is purely coincidental!!) Actually, I haven't dealt with them at all - I left that all to "A" and her mom. I've been pretty silent about it so as to not jinx anything, but now that we are actually getting the place, I can finally put my two cents in and describe what some people are like.

From the beginning, we offered them an indemnity (as suggested by a lawyer at the legal clinic who litigated something like 20,000 cases). They didn't like the offer and refused the repossession, which they had a right to do. 3 months later, we go to the rental board court, and the magistrate decided that they should be getting an extra $400 bucks over what we had offered. This was acceptable, since they were asking for four times the amount as compensation (an insane amount - which when the case was opened even the rental board guy raised his eyebrows!!!) So, in your opinion who won the judgment? Well, although it was slightly more than we offered, they got far less than they wanted, so I would chalk that up to us. Somehow, they thought the judgment was against "A"'s mom. Whatever.....

In January, we informed them that an inspection would be done. Since I had never actually seen the place, I did the inspection with our friend Tara (who is also a landlord) and "A". I had printed out a layout of the apartment and took it with us. We noted all of the little cracks and damage so that we would have a good idea of the work that we'd need to do when we moved in. There were a lot of minor things but nothing out of the ordinary and generally the place was in pretty good shape. When Nigel found out that there were three people who did the inspection and that we weren't "professionals" (which makes no sense since there AREN'T any professional apartment inspectors), he went nuts and threatened "A"'s mom and told her that they were going to sue for invasion of privacy, blah, blah, blah... We checked with the rental board ahead of time and ANYONE can do the inspection - including the people moving in. So, he's obviously full of it.... But still he feels that he has a case and would possibly take her to criminal court (yeah, right!!)

Then comes March, and for some reason Nigel and Patricia ask if they can move out in May because the place they are looking at was available for May 1st. Now, letting them go two months early would deprive "A"'s mom of two month's rent and since we weren't ready to move in, she declined. But she later decided that she would offer to them that they could leave mid-June. This would help them out by giving them back half a month's rent, it would help us out by giving us a chance to clean the place and move some of the smaller things before our big move. So it really would have made everyone happy. But, Nigel and Patricia in their (ehem!) infinite wisdom decided that getting out June 15 was not good enough and they declined.

Now, what I haven't said was throughout February and March, "A"'s mom received calls asking for a plumber because the drain clogged (we found out later that it was because of toys being thrown down the drain by their kids....). She also got several calls asking for an exterminator for ants and mice. We discovered that this was because of an excessive amount of dirt and food left open in the place, so yeah - no wonder there are ants. And the odd thing is that in the three or four years that they were there, they never complained about things like this. NOW all of a sudden there are problems?? hmmm, very strange....

Then April came, and for some reason, they decided NOT to pay rent. This is was kind of unusual. I mean, they were late with their rent checks the last 6 months (only by a couple days each time), but to actually not pay rent was a surprise. When confronted, they said that it was usual to not pay rent seeing as the indemnity would cover it. Well, while this is an accepted practice, it's usually agreed upon ahead of time. There was no agreement and they just took it upon themselves to implement it. How nice of them...

Then May comes around and towards the end of the month, "A"'s mom gets a phone call asking (actually, almost demanding) to be released from the lease for the month of June so that they wouldn't have to pay. Oh, and to add a little extra background on this point, Nigel and Patricia moved out in the middle of May - so the apartment is already empty. I guess seeing as they have already moved out, they might as well try and get as much money as they can. Well, obviously, "A"'s mom says no (since that would be a whole month's rent that she'd be out and she declined. So, naturally, they were pissed... However, a couple days later, they call yet again saying that they have reconsidered the half-June that was offered months ago and would like to be let out of their lease mid-June. "A"'s mom wrote them a note which she wanted them to sign saying that they had agreed on this. But surprise, surprise, they never returned the signed note. So is it on or off for mid-June??? Your guess is as good as mine....

A week later, "A"'s mom informs them that we'd like to do a second inspection. Well, when Nigel heard this, he protested yet again with another threatening phone call and said he would not consent to this and we would only be allowed in the apartment when we get the key on the 15th at 6:00pm (he had to put the time exactly) and if she wasn't there with cash or certified check as prescribed by the rental board's decision, he would sue, blah, blah (ummm, the rental board was for June 30th and NOT June15th, dingbat!!!) So we postponed the inspection and it will be on the 15th at 6:00pm. Thursday morning, I'll be going over to change the locks (because these people are obviously not to be trusted....) and then the place will finally, FINALLY be ours. In theory, this would be the last that we'd have to deal with them. But I would be willing to bet a bajillion bucks, that they will be back with something!!!

I think the part that REALLY gets under my skin is the fact that throughout the last six months, Nigel has been extremely rude, arrogant and very aggressive in his comments and questions - way past the point that I would define as harassment. He clearly has no skill in dealing with people in a respectful manner. And also for the past 6 months, he has threatened to take "A"'s mom to court over this invasion of privacy from the inspection in January... I hope he does - I really do. Then once and for all a judge can blast him for being an idiot and wasting everyone's time. Maybe perhaps at that point, WE can go after him for threats and psychological and emotional stress.

Man, I really hate people like this... it's really a good thing for him that I wasn't involved....

BUT! On a good note, I've got a reffing double-header tonight (assuming it's not called off because of rain). Then we can go to our apartment and check out the place. Woohoo!!!!

Wow - what a weekend. We just had one thing after another after another... Thursday night (yeah - THURSDAY!!) I went to pick up the boys. Got back at 11:00 after a couple of unscheduled pit-stops. Friday morning, we went roller-blading at a roller-blading park with ramps and hills and things. Both boys can skate pretty well, but "J" is really good. They both hardly fell at all, which is great! Then after a quick lunch we headed downtown for the Grand-Prix. Every year, they shut down Crescent street for about a week and they have booths of playstations, and race cars and stages for music shows. The boys really enjoyed it. I managed to take several pictures of the boys in the cars, which I hope to post really soon. Friday night, I had a soccer game with my Friday team, in which we won (I got the first goal - a left-footed beauty that went in the top-right corner...)

Saturday morning we did a bunch of shopping and then in the afternoon went to a party hosted by our soccer coach. We were then supposed to go to my sis's place, but the party went longer than expected so we pushed that to Sunday afternoon, which was after a brunch at "A"'s mom's place. Then drove the kids home and got back in time to ref a U18-boys game. And let me tell you these boys can run...

Monday night I was asked to ref a double-header (first game was a U13 game and then that was followed by a Metro-Division 4 Women's game).

So overall, reffing is going really well and I'm absolutely having a blast with it. Next games are a double-header of U11-boys games. That should be a lot of fun. One of the coaches of the second game is the shipping guy from my company. We discussed if I should be taking a bribe and decided it was probably not worth it....

Reffed my first game last night (not as a linesman). It was a 7-aside U11 girls game. Not quite a high caliber game, but it was still fun to ref it (I got nice compliments from the two coaches). One team slaughtered the other 6-0. I met a guy from my shipping department at the field who was coaching a team on another field. It was pretty interesting because I'd never have guessed he'd be a Soccer-Dad but he looked the part and was obviously having fun with it. It's amazing what you find out about work people and the fact that they have "lives" outside of work.

Tonight is softball (which I have to miss because I'm picking up the boys). I sure hope the team wins tonight. It's a big game given that we're playing the second place team and a win, should move us into second. Go team!!

Found out this morning that my great-uncle in Holland died yesterday (my sister forwarded me a message). I didn't really know him but he's still family so there is a sense of loss. He was pretty old (early 90's, I believe) and he and his wife (my great-aunt) didn't have any children but always treated my Mom as a daughter. I hope my Tante-Marie is ok...

Friday night we went to see Lyric Theatre Singers' presentation of "Bravo! Broadway" - which was a number of Broadway songs. I knew several people in the group (Tara, Coralie, Mark, Chris, Lisa, Peggy, Richard, Rob, Jacques) - some I have sung with at LLO, some at MWOS and one guy I work with. The show was very good and the numbers that Chris and Coralie did were really good. They had a special guest, Robert Marien, who sang some selections from Notre-Dame-de-Paris. I thought he very good as well, but not as good as I thought he should have (IMHO). I found out later that he was a bit under the weather and we also caught him coughing on stage during some of the applause. But overall, it was a very enjoyable show.

Saturday morning 7:30am, I left for Kingston where our soccer team played in a tournament. The drive was uneventful, but very warm - not a good thing when you're going to play a soccer tournament. Anyways, it turns out we only played with 9 players - 3 people called the day before or that morning canceling out. So that kind of sucked. Our games were at 11:00, 1:00 and 3:00 - basically, the hottest parts of the day. The first game, we actually did pretty well, winning it 4-0. But then it started to get really warm (throughout the day, I polished off an entire 4L jug of water that I had bought just before the first game). The second game we lost 2-0 and the third game there just wasn't any gas left in the tank and we lost it 3-0. So, despite the fact that it was 30 degrees and sunny, and we only had 9 players, we did all right. We overheard some of the other players saying that had we had enough players, we would have been the team to beat. It was frustrating playing, though.

We rounded off our weekend by heading over to some friends of ours for a pre-summer BBQ on Sunday afternoon where we met a few other LLO'ers (Erika, Jonathan, and Christina). It was warm as well, but this time I'm not running around chasing a ball. it was a peaceful way to end off the weekend.

I received part of my reffing schedule for June and I've only got two games this week. And with no softball this week (since I'll be missing one game picking up the boys and the other game we have a bye) I'm may go into sports-withdrawal. I hope the team will be able to beat the second place team. If they do, it should put Delta in 2nd place...

12 years ago today, little "V" came into the world with hardly a whimper. Today, she's a little lady going on 16... Happy birthday sweetheart!! Enjoy your last year as a "tween"...

Last night, I did a double sports duty. First off was a U-13 Inter-city game that I reffed. I really enjoyed this one as the caliber was better then house-league games and I got good praise from the middle referee - so obviously I'm doing something right. I still haven't received my schedule for the remainder of June, so I have no idea how many (if any) games I'll be reffing in June.

After the soccer game, I picked up "A" and we went to my softball game. As mentioned in a prior post, we were playing the second place team. We really wanted to beat these guys. Well, beat them we did: 22-11! We had a couple of 5-run innings and overall played an excellent game. Next week is a bye and then I need to miss a game to go pick up the boys.

Tonight, we're going to see Lyric Theatre perform Broadway shows and then tomorrow and Sunday we're going to Kingston for a soccer tournament. Apparently Pierrefonds is defending champions so we'll see how we do this weekend.

Hooray for June!! Summer is finally coming and the weather today is certainly doing its part. I can't wait for the heat (I really hate cold!!) and sunshine.

Well Monday night, I was scheduled to ref a game (linesman, actually) and when I got to the field I was asked if I was available for a second game immediately afterwards. Since I didn't have anything to do after the game I said, "Absolutely". So the first game, I was assistant referee for a U-13 girls game and then again for a U-16 game (a much better game since they are older). Being a referee is a lot of fun and you get lots of fresh air, get to run around and get to watch soccer. I think I'm really going to enjoy doing this this summer. Last night, I was assistant referee at a U-13 boys game and tonight I have another U-13 girls game (will need to skip badminton). Those are all the games that I have scheduled so far, but the full schedules for the month of June are coming out this week, so hopefully I'll get a chance to be middle referee.

Last night, following the soccer game, I also had a softball game. We played the team that we beat 14-12 last time, but we had a 14-7 lead going into the last inning so it was close. However, last night's game was not close at all as we shellacked them 10-1. Our defense was hot and got some good hits from key players. I didn't fare so well, only going 1-for-4 but did manage to make a couple of good catches and also made a double play on a player leaving the base on a fly-out. Thursday's game will be a good one as we are playing the second place team (just above us). We got a report on Lucy, our pitcher, and the word is she had a slight hairline fracture of her cheekbone, but otherwise in good shape. She's said she wants to come back and pitch and, I found this out last night, she has already been hit a couple times before... So this is old hat for her... what a trooper.

This past weekend, "A" and I went to see "V" and "B" in their little play called "Acorns to Oaks". "V" did an excellent job in her solo work and in her acting and "B" did a great job as Robo-Scarecrow - an invention by one of the other characters that didn't work. I took several photos and a couple of little videos which I hope to upload very soon (although my computer is in pieces at the moment so it might take a little while). Saturday night, we arrived in Peterborough, checked into the hotel and picked up "J" for some mini-golfing (he wasn't in the play) - "V" and "B" had their dress-rehearsal that night. After mini-golfing (didn't do as well as last time), we went to the Galaxy, which is one of those all-inclusive cinemas with arcade games and played a few of those for a little bit before we had to pick up the two stars. We brought them to the hotel to do a little swimming in the hotel pool. Naturally, there was the standard wrestling and "dunk-the-Dad-under-water" game. After swimming we scoffed on Pringles and Fruitopia before driving them home.

Sunday morning was the play, which was a lot of fun and, as I mentioned above, "V" and "B" did great. After the play we all went to Swiss Chalet, which happens to make the best chicken in the world, for lunch before we headed back to Montreal. On the way back, we stopped off at a Wal-Mart because the kids wanted a Tama-Gotchie (?!?). This is one of those fad-games where you have to take care of a virtual pet and can even trade things between friends. I had checked a few stores in Montreal, and they were either all sold out or don't carry them anymore. But luck was with us and we managed to find a bunch of them in the Brockville Wal-Mart.

And finally, tonight is my first reffing game. I'm only doing the lines for 13-year olds but it should still be fun. I have 3 games this week and I'm guessing they want to see me be the assistant referee before giving me a game as an actual referee. Everything in steps, right? Tomorrow will be interesting as I will be reffing a game and then will need to head over to the Softball park right after for my game. Still no update on Lucy, our pitcher after last week's incident. She'll probably be out for a while...

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