Removing the feeding tube from our aging hipster plaid pants

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
MSN has the answer.

Smart ass

The popecam is currently blowing what looks like black smoke.
Hard to tell though, because it's dusk.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
I may be frolicking in my backyard naked for the next few days.

This part should help patch things up if there are a few site lines left open.

[bold_n_brazen]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
So I put up a fence this weekend. There had been a thin wire trellis between my yard and the neighbors' before, and the neighbors had extended the trellis to attach to their roof to form an arbor. Theoretically vines are supposed to offer privacy, but the vines are really sparse on the fence though fairly lush on the top of the trellis. I can see into their kitchen and TV room, and they can see all of my back yard. I have no idea who put the vines in, though I'm assuming they put in the trellis.

They're moving in a few weeks, and I told them about the fence a few weeks ago. I told them again about the fence earlier in the week when I got the date confirmed.

Fence building begins on Friday, and I talk to the contractor about the vines, saying that anything intertwined into the trellis stays, except for the bouganvillas (which would die without sun) and anything clearly on my side of the fence line.

I stop by and look around 6:00 on Friday. A note is taped to my door sometime later from irate neighbors saying that we'd cut all of the vines and that they were irreplacable since there won't be any sun to help them grow back up the trellis. It concludes with "we have to talk."

I inspect damage, and it turns out that 2 bouganvillas were cut and 2 vines. One of the vines had a rotted root system. Three major vine systems were totally untouched. I go next door at 9:00 the next morning to find no one home. I leave note with all of my contact information.

I also go and dig up a 20 foot honeysuckle from my front yard and put it where the cut vine was. I also bought a bouganvilla and left it on their front step.

Neighbors never returned on Saturday, and I was out of town on Sunday until around 8:30.

Acknowledging that I should have probably gone plant by plant with the neighbors before giving any instructions to the contractor, is there anything else I should do? I've had excellent relations with the neighbors up until this point.

(There's a longer version with helpful map of the afflicted areas and detailed descriptions of the plants in question if anyone's interested.)

The fence, btw, looks great, and I may be frolicking in my backyard naked for the next few days.

Fuck them.

You told them about the fence. You only cut things on your property. And they are fucking moving.

Let me repeat, fuck them.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
This part should help patch things up if there are a few site lines left open.

Nope. They're gay.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Nope. They're gay.

So bnb's suggestion is out.

[Oliver_Wendell_Ramone]

Originally posted by Not Bob
Apropos of Jack, I just heard a catchy little ditty called "Coin Operated Boy" by the Dresden Dolls. Not exactly something that the ClearChannel stations here in my town are likely to play anytime soon. Thanks, Sirius.

Has my posting raves about Sirius satellite radio become tiresome yet?

Continuing in the music vein, Tommy Stinson rawks. His solo album is good (Village Gorilla Head; buy it via the Amazon link!); live, way, way fun. Started out by leaving the stage to play a few accoustic songs sitting on the bar (including a nice sing-along version of Thunders' "Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory"); then got on stage (backed by Alien Crime Syndicate) and totally rawked. Mostly loud, Replacements-ish stuff. Genuinely seems to enjoy himself, and has become a pretty damn good front man. Looks remarkably good for a guy who joined the 'Mats at 13; we're the same age, and he looks a lot better than me. Weird to think of him as a member of Guns 'n Roses, but whatever.

I shoulda worn ear plugs; my ears are still ringing.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
So I put up a fence this weekend. There had been a thin wire trellis between my yard and the neighbors' before, and the neighbors had extended the trellis to attach to their roof to form an arbor. Theoretically vines are supposed to offer privacy, but the vines are really sparse on the fence though fairly lush on the top of the trellis. I can see into their kitchen and TV room, and they can see all of my back yard. I have no idea who put the vines in, though I'm assuming they put in the trellis.

They're moving in a few weeks, and I told them about the fence a few weeks ago. I told them again about the fence earlier in the week when I got the date confirmed.

Fence building begins on Friday, and I talk to the contractor about the vines, saying that anything intertwined into the trellis stays, except for the bouganvillas (which would die without sun) and anything clearly on my side of the fence line.

I stop by and look around 6:00 on Friday. A note is taped to my door sometime later from irate neighbors saying that we'd cut all of the vines and that they were irreplacable since there won't be any sun to help them grow back up the trellis. It concludes with "we have to talk."

I inspect damage, and it turns out that 2 bouganvillas were cut and 2 vines. One of the vines had a rotted root system. Three major vine systems were totally untouched. I go next door at 9:00 the next morning to find no one home. I leave note with all of my contact information.

I also go and dig up a 20 foot honeysuckle from my front yard and put it where the cut vine was. I also bought a bouganvilla and left it on their front step.

Neighbors never returned on Saturday, and I was out of town on Sunday until around 8:30.

Acknowledging that I should have probably gone plant by plant with the neighbors before giving any instructions to the contractor, is there anything else I should do? I've had excellent relations with the neighbors up until this point.

(There's a longer version with helpful map of the afflicted areas and detailed descriptions of the plants in question if anyone's interested.)

The fence, btw, looks great, and I may be frolicking in my backyard naked for the next few days.

Blame the contractor. Have they sold their house yet? If not, they're surely agonizing about how to make it look perfect. If so, surely they can't care that much.

[Flinty_McFlint]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Blame the contractor. Have they sold their house yet? If not, they're surely agonizing about how to make it look perfect. If so, surely they can't care that much.

These are all good suggestions. Personally, I'd burn their house down and then send them a muffin basket. But I'm passive agressive.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Acknowledging that I should have probably gone plant by plant with the neighbors before giving any instructions to the contractor, is there anything else I should do? I've had excellent relations with the neighbors up until this point.

Put your trash in their bin.

TM

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
if they even consider cancelling Arrested Development.

2.

Unfortunately, it appears that it's a possibility. From the Defamer:

• Last night marked the season finale of Arrested Development, and the online Save Our Bluths campaign finally shipped its foam banana balls of desperation last week, so there’s nothing left for AD superfans to do but sit at the show’s figurative bedside and hope for an act of Congress. And this doesn’t necessarily mean that the show’s already been canceled, but it can’t be a good sign: We’ve heard that Jason Bateman’s officially been put on the casting meat market, where he might wind up in a potentially less critically acclaimed, but more Nielsen-healthy, project. Actors can’t just sit around and wait for new Fox overlord Peter Liguori to finally yank out the show’s metaphorical feeding tube (feeding tubes: still hot in H’wood), you know. They’ve got living to do.
  
  On a lighter note, this AP writer obviously hasn’t figured out that AD’s “scenes from next week” are a gag (and an especially poignant one this time): “Sunday’s half-hour ended with scenes from the next episode, the one that would open the fall season. Devotees can only hope the optimism isn’t misguided.”

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Blame the contractor. Have they sold their house yet? If not, they're surely agonizing about how to make it look perfect. If so, surely they can't care that much.

They're planning on renting out the house.

One of them mentioned in casual conversation a few weeks ago that he was thinking about taking down the vines since the arbor was in disrepair and there was a lot of dead foliage up there. Obviously it was just thinking out loud.

I think they over-reacted. They're right that they aren't going to be able to replace any plants that were cut, as their deck and my new fence gets in the way of the ground and there is no sun now, but they totally exaggerated the situation in the note. And leaving the note without contact information or being around the next day didn't help the situation. They know me, and they know I'm a gardener and would have been easy to approach about their dissatisfaction.

The contractor is a personal friend who built a beautiful fence, powerwashed my house and deck, installed a low wattage lighting monorail system in my kitchen, and built a retaining wall around a tree in two days. I'm not going to blame him for anything.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
They're planning on renting out the house.

One of them mentioned in casual conversation a few weeks ago that he was thinking about taking down the vines since the arbor was in disrepair and there was a lot of dead foliage up there. Obviously it was just thinking out loud.

I think they over-reacted. They're right that they aren't going to be able to replace any plants that were cut, as their deck and my new fence gets in the way of the ground and there is no sun now, but they totally exaggerated the situation in the note. And leaving the note without contact information or being around the next day didn't help the situation. They know me, and they know I'm a gardener.

The contractor is a personal friend who built a beautiful fence, powerwashed my house and deck, installed a low wattage lighting monorail system in my kitchen, and built a retaining wall around a tree in two days. I'm not going to blame him for anything.

Blame a fictitious sub-contractor.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Nope. They're gay.

Then what were you doing changing any landscaping? You should have known better. With my old neighbors I would ask for suggestions on what to plant in front so their view wouldn't get messed. This started the year I put green beans along the front walkway as a sort of "green statement." They told me it made our part of the block look trashy.

The flower bed along out property line- they were in charge, it was just assumed. Do you think I would have cut down things they planted?

[Not Bob]

So, I have a response due to a discovery request later this week in one of my cases for W.T. Grant's. When I first got the case in, I met with the regional and local managers at the store down in East Jesus. The regional manager told me that he would gather up the incident file, as well as all of the locally maintained documents kept at the regional office, and would get them to me.

A few weeks later, I got a stack of paper, and noticed that it was mostly the store stuff, and assumed that the regional stuff would follow. Then I got busy with a trial for Piggly-Wiggly (Mrs. Goldstein won $250,000 when she needed to have a *lot* of surgery after a box of kitty litter fell off of a forklift on top of her just before closing time), and didn't think anything of it.

Fast forward to the discovery request. It asks for, among other things, records maintained at the regional level. Per client policy, I sent the request up to the legal department in Des Moines as soon as I got it, and the in-house guy assured me that he would take care of gathering all of the documents it requests.

Fast forward to five minutes ago. I just got a phone call from the store's assistant manager. He got an email from his boss that had been forwarded via about fifty people. It was originally from, you guessed it, a paralegal in the legal department in Des Moines asking for the responsive documents that I asked them for. The poor assistant manager told me that the local store manager was currently in Panama with his National Guard unit for the next month, that the regional manager was on maternity leave for another few weeks, and that the district manager told him to "have Not Bob take care of getting this stuff up to Des Moines." Fenwick and McGillicuddy are, of course, nowhere to be found.

I love my job.

[Flinty_McFlint]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Then what were you doing changing any landscaping? You should have known better. With my old neighbors I would ask for suggestions on what to plant in front so their view wouldn't get messed. This started the year I put green beans along the front walkway as a sort of "green statement." They told me it made our part of the block look trashy.

The flower bed along out property line- they were in charge, it was just assumed. Do you think I would have cut down things they planted?

I would have crashed a semi into their porch and sent them a cookie bouquet.