Category: Life

Here is a copy of the letter I wrote and distributed to my neighbors.

July 27, 2010

Dear neighbor,

On Tuesday, July 27, around 8:30 p.m., a couple from 11210 left an unattended fire burning in the grill by the tennis court. It was a coal fire, there was no food, and there was no one around when I called out. It was unattended for about 5 to 10 minutes.

I grabbed the fire extinguisher, but opted not to use it as I saw some ice on the ground, and put it out with the ice. I sat there on the park bench for a few more minutes, talking to another neighbor about fire safety, when a child came out from 11210. I asked him whose fire it was, and he pointed inside. I believe it was his mother who came out after that, cursing at me for invading her space.

Yelling ensued, and I went inside and called the police. The woman and a man started the fire again and this time stayed outside, yelling at me through the window. When the police came and went to talk with them, I was only told that the situation was under control.

After losing just about everything I owned in the Dec. 2007 fire at Cherry Glen, I may be a bit antsy when it comes to people leaving unattended fires on the grounds, as I should be. Not only that, it is against condo rules to do such a thing, and it should not be tolerated.

Seeing what we have already been through, I urge anyone to immediately report unattended fires to the police instantly. Cherry Glen has responded in the past by putting up flyers about this, but considering this incident, I strongly feel that flyers dont help. So Im asking you, neighbor to neighbor, to help put an end to this dangerous, selfish behavior that can once again take our homes away.

Thank you,

Ben Sumner

Building 12

Sunday, a 15-minute storm hit the area, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people. Back in Feb., the snowstorm did the same (which was worse because we had snow to put up with on top of the power outage). In 2007, my home burnt down during a power outage due to someone’s misplaced candle in another unit. We also had a long outage in 2003 with Hurricane Isabel. There have been several more minor outages since.

Anyway, it’s once again time to throw out all the food in the refrigerator. Also, I can’t go to work, because the office has no power, and I can’t use the pool, because the cleaning pump isn’t working. It’s difficult to drive int he area because so many stop lights are out.

What to do, then?

I’m going to stockpile all the necessities for something major to happen, because eventually it will. So if you need any Uzis and Twinkies, I’ll be hogging them all.

I would like to congratulate myself for getting promoted to a ‘featured’ merchant on Amazon.com. I’m unclear how I did it but I can assume it’s because they think I’m totally awesome and cool and everyone likes me.

Okay, but realistically, I’m guessing I got ‘promoted’ because I sold enough stuff without any demerits and made them tons of cash for doing nothing for a year. What’s weird, though, is that I’m now in the same spot with actual retail merchants who sell things for a living, and not on the side like me.

So check out my Morgul Lord Witch King listing and see my cat and dog (RIP) logo well above everyone else’s. Yeah, obviously they did this cause they think I’m super cool.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like Twitter and Facebook are turning people into inconsiderate jerks and they don’t even know it.
The advent of e-mail and instant messaging made it extremely easy to keep in touch with people. So at first, that’s what we did. We constantly e-mailed people, and even talked to strangers via instant messaging. As time went on, that phased out. We stopped feeling the need to be in constant personal contact with people, and waited to reply to e-mails, if at all.
Eventually, we got Facebook, which was supposed to make it even easier to keep in touch by broadcasting your own thoughts.Now I’m afraid that we’re at the point that it matters less about what people want to say to you and more about what you want to say to others. How do I know this? The reply rate to friendly personal messages has plummeted. The number of ‘Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you – I’ve been busy’ e-mails have skyrocketed (if any reply is sent at all) while those very same people Tweet and Facebook what they’re having for breakfast 20 times a day.
These people weren’t always like this – the technology allows them to be more narcissistic. They feel they’re being communicative by telling everyone what they’re doing, because what’s more important than what you have to say?
Seems that e-mail is about to be a thing of the past – who needs that when whoever matters to you can follow you on Twitter? Meanwhile, when an old friend comes along to give a friendly, personal hello, it’s met with confusion, if not completely ignored.
That’s where we’re headed.

I’ve lived through several huge snowstorms in this area. I recall one in the late 70s. I remember 1996, and 2003. I’m sure there were a few more, but here is why this is the worst I can remember. My power has been out at my condo for three days. That makes the difference. I don’t even remember the power being out that long after Hurricane Isabel in 2003.
On top of that, it’s been three days and the side roads to many neighborhoods have yet to be paved. Which means we need to walk through 30 inches of snow just to get to the main road, where I’m parking.
I really don’t mind this much snow. But the power… the POWER! Gotta have that. Above is a photo of my car. It was completely clear at 11 p.m. the previous night.