Urban Squirrels

Living in Los Angeles suburbs leaves a lot to be desired in terms of natural escapes.  There are
occasionally a few "wild animal" sitings in the Hollywood hills and eastern outskirts of LA County,
but the South Bay beach city doesn't have much in the way of wildlife other than raccoons, squirrels,
cats, opossums, birds and peacocks.   Today, one of the caregivers entered the building and said that
a bunch of squirrels were "running around like crazy" and one of the squirrels almost ran into her. 
I scurried outside to witness nature at play.  Sure enough the group of about six squirrels were chasing
each other around, jumping from tree to tree.  It was difficult to capture
the commotion;  it was almost as if the camera-shy squirrels knew when
to hide behind the leaves as I pointed my camera in their direction and
waited for the perfect moment to snap a picture.  I could hear their chirps,
but not see them.  Plus, I didn't want to get too close just-in-case the
squirrels' physical displays were the result of an angry family dispute
rather than a cheerful game of tag.

 A Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

(June 19, 2015)

Okay, so I have to vent. Venting is good; a "natural" way to release stress, right?

Friday was a horrible, no good, very bad day.  Thursday was such a great day. Last night I was looking forward to a nice Friday and finalizing some projects before a fun weekend. But the "universe" had other plans, perhaps I should be honored that the universe recognizes my existence.


First, shortly after waking up, I noticed there was no hot water. It wasn't a complete surprise. I have been trying to convince my supervisor to approve a replacement pump on the boiler for the last six months. But being Friday, there is a 90 percent chance we won't have hot water for the weekend. Rich "Macgyvered" a bandage fix long enough for the morning showers, but it still took long enough for several residents to notice and call... angrily.


Second, shortly before nine, Rich called and said that two packages were supposedly delivered at 7:01pm Thursday night by FedEx and left at the front door. Of course, there are no packages anywhere to be found. Interestingly, there were no missed calls on either of our cellphones, nor on the office answering machine. In addition, Rich and I returned home from yoga at 7:20 p.m., and there were no packages at the building entrance nor at our apartment door. The combined value of both packages is about $300. Because Rich was understandably livid, I called FedEx. Ron at FedEx was apologetic as he opened two "cases”; Ron informed me that someone would call me back after "investigating" and "talking to the driver". At 10:18 a.m. I received a call back from Olivia. While the conversation was being recorded, Olivia told me that, according to the driver, the package was delivered at 12:01p.m. and not 7:01p.m. (as it states on the tracking notes), and maybe I should talk to the manager. Really? At this point I informed her that from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. I was preparing, hosting, and cleaning up a party in the rec room of the apartment complex, which has a clear view of the glass front door. No delivery person entered or approached the building the entire time I was in the recreation room. No delivery person attempted to call the manager (at which point I informed Olivia that I am the manager), my personal cellphone, or Rich's cellphone, which are both programmed in the Callbox. At 12:01p.m. exactly, we were making announcements to a room of eighteen people. Did the delivery person remember seeing a brightly decorated room filled with twenty people? 

Olivia told me that the driver must have made a mistake, and she would have to talk to him again. At 10:56 a.m., I received another call from Kinesha.  Kinesha told me that the driver is "retracing his route." I have not received any more updates. I did call and/or visit the neighboring apartment managers, but there were no deliveries to their buildings. It will be interesting to see what excuse FedEx comes up with next, and if their tapes mysteriously erase.


Third, at 2:05 pm the phone line in our apartment mysteriously died in the middle of a conversation with a coworker. This is a land line which was "fixed" yesterday. Ironically, I had completed the curtesy satisfaction survey only an hour earlier.

Fourth, at 2:07pm I received a call from a resident that another resident urinated in the hallway right in front of the mailboxes. Gross. Sure enough, there was puddle and a trail of urine from the front door to the elevator. 

Fifth, at 6:40pm the hot water ceased again.  This is going to be a long weekend.   Is it time for bed yet?

Update:
Water heater: It failed again on Saturday and Sunday. We canceled our Father's day plans.   Monday morning technicians replaced two pumps. So far, so good.

Phone: The telephone flickered on and off all weekend.  At 5:00 a.m. Monday morning, the phone decided to work long enough for a telemarketing "wake-up" call. Verizon technician came out of Tuesday and was able to reconnect the wires at the terminal.

FedEx packages: Rich called FedEx on Monday; no update because FedEx does not deliver packages on Monday. Tuesday, Olivia called me at 10:00am and asked if we received the packages. Really? Two hours into their first delivery day? No, we have not received the packages. She said we would need to contact the seller to initiate a lost package claim.  Only the sender can initiate the claim. Wednesday, at 9:00 am, a man stopped by the building with the packages. He lives down the street. He said that he had contacted FedEx last week and was told they would pick up the packages and redeliver. It is a shame that some of today's workers are collecting paychecks while relying on the kindness and goodness of neighbors to complete their jobs.  I gave the man my business card so he can contact me directly if/when FedEx messes up again.