You Found Me

It's been months since season 4 of Lost ended. With season 5 just around the corner (January 2009), the following video was released. The video is to the song "You Found Me" by The Fray, and it's composed almost entirely of clips from the previous seasons.



There are a couple cool things about the video. First, is the hidden image buried in the video (did you see it?). It's only on the screen for a split second. Here it is for those of you who didn't see:



My guess is that "Ajira Airways" will be the airline that the Oceanic 6 take to get back to the island.

The other interesting is the song itself. Isaac Slade, the pianist and singer for the band, said the following about the song:

"You Found Me is a tough song for me. It's about the disappointment, the heart ache, the let down that comes with life. Sometimes you’re let down, sometimes you’re the one who lets someone else down. It gets hard to know who you can trust, who you can count on. This song came out of a tough time, and I’m still right in the thick of it. There’s some difficult circumstances my family and friends have been going through over the past year or so and can be overwhelming. It wears on me. It demands so much of my faith to keep believing, keep hoping in the unseen. Sometimes the tunnel has a light at the end, but usually they just look black as night. This song is about that feeling, and the hope that I still have, buried deep in my chest."

Talk about powerful.

I found God on the corner of first and Amistad/where the west was all but won/all alone, smoking his last cigarette/I said 'Where've you been?'/He said ask anything/Where were you when everything was falling apart?/All my days were spent by the telephone/It never rang, and all I needed was a call./That never came from the corner of first and Amistad/

Lost and insecure/You found me/You found me/Lying on the floor/Surrounded, surrounded/Why’d you have to wait?/Where were You?/Where were You?/Just a little late/You found me/You found me

In the end everyone ends up alone/Losing her, the only one who’s ever known/who I am, who I’m not, who I want to be/No way to know how long she will be next to me

Lost and insecure/You found me/You found me/Lying on the floor/Surrounded, surrounded/Why’d you have to wait?/Where were you?/Where were you?/Just a little late/You found me/You found me

Early morning, city breaks/I’ve been calling for years and years and years and years/and you never left me no messages/You never send me no letters/You got some kind of nerve, taking all I want

Lost and insecure/You found me/You found me/Lying on the floor/Where were You?/Where were You?

Sheboygan Turkey Trot 2008

Wisconsin vs. Cal Poly - IT WAS COLD!

One Year Kohler Birthday

Today I celebrated my one year Kohler birthday (I had to adhere to the doughnut rule). It's hard to believe that a year has passed already.

I am happy to report that I have made some progress since last years post. I have:

-joined the YMCA
-completed my 30 page research paper on automotive aerodynamics
-reduced my restaurant visits from every meal every day
-used a bidet for the very first time

But I still have some work to do:

-start going to the YMCA again and lose the remaining 20lbs of my goal of 25
-complete a 10 page research paper on the subprime mortgage crisis
-complete two 10 page reports for my optimization class
-reduce my restaurant visits from 1 meal every day
-go green in my tp use, and use a bidet more often

It's all about baby steps!

Seriously though, Allison and I are quite happy being in Wisconsin. We continue to keep tabs on the happenings in Michigan (ROT IN JAIL, KWAME!), and with all the problems at Chrysler and GM (Ford too), we feel good about the hard decision we made last October. So happy Kohler birthday to me. My real birthday is in 3 weeks or so, which I will be celebrating in China. But more about that some other day.

A Part of History

Being a part of history can be pretty exciting. No, I'm not talking about the President Elect Obama. Actually, I'm talking about the picture below. You may want to click on it to see a larger version for a better view of high school Joe.

mmm...donuts

So life at Kohler is a little odd, and this has nothing to do with dealing with poop and toilets on a regular basis. Typically, when it's your birthday or some special occasion, typically one receives something, right? Well at Kohler, when something like this occurs, you are responsible to bring in doughnuts or some special bakery item. On that list of "special events" is getting your name and/or picture in the Kohler Capsule, which is the companies bi-weekly 2 page newsletter.

Unfortunately, my mug got stuck in Capsule. I didn't even get to see it before the following was left on my keyboard:

RSLP Properties are Incompetent - part 3

Part 3 of the on-going saga. Catch up here.

So long story short, Allison and I have finally moved. We once again have internet. There's plenty to talk about, but I wanted to get my moving out story out there as soon as possible.

4 weeks ago, I called Tyrone, apparently my property manager for RSLP Properties, to schedule a final walk through of my apartment. My lease was scheduled to end October 31, and I wanted to give him plenty of time to schedule a trip to Sheboygan from Milwaukee. He told me that Friday, October 31 would be fine, and to call a couple days prior to finalize a time.

3 weeks go by, and this takes us to last week. I call Tyrone 3 times throughout the week to schedule my walk through, and he does not call me back. I try the landlord, Elijah Mohammed Rashaed, and he ignores my calls as well. Well, on my fourth call to Tyrone, he finally answers the phone, and I pin him down to do a final walk through at my apartment at 11am on October 31.

October 31 comes, and I call him at 10am to confirm the appointment. He calls me back at 10:33am to cancel the appointment, stating that we'll have to do it on November 1st. Knowing that this company are just looking for opportunities to take more money from tenants, I refuse, telling him that they are not locking me into owing them another month of rent because I was not checked out of the apartment by the end of my lease. He tells me to take his word that I'm good and I won't be charged. YEAH RIGHT! I ask him if he would call me right back and leave that in a voice mail on my phone, as I did not trust him or RSLP Properties on their word alone. He says, 'No problem, man' and hangs up. Guess what DIDN'T happen? He didn't call me back. I call him back 20 minutes later - no answer. I call him 20 minutes after that - no answer. I send him a text message - no reply. Now I know these guys are trying to screw me. I call the landlord - no answer. Now I'm freaking out, so I email the landlord to make sure I have a paper trail of what happened. Below is my email to Elijah:

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Elijah,

I just received a call from Tyrone at 10:33am this morning concerning my final walk through that was supposed to have taken place today from 11am - 1pm. He said that he was swamped with work and could not make it to Sheboygan until tomorrow. I explained that the apartment is emptied and cleaned, and that I want to do the walk through and return the keys. He said that we can do it tomorrow, November 1, and that I would not be held responsible for doing the walk through on November 1 rather than October 31, which is when my lease expires.

I just wanted to confirm this information with you so that there is no misunderstanding. Tyrone rescheduled the walk-through for tomorrow, November 1. I should not be held responsible for any costs for month-to-month or day-to-day for the apartment, as it is ready to be taken back into your possession as of today per the signed lease agreement.

I will call you later today to confirm the information. If I do not receive an email or a call back from you, I will take that as you understand and agree that I will not incur any additional costs due to this rescheduled walk through by Tyrone.


Thank you,

Joe Blake
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Hours later, at 7pm, Tyrone calls me and leaves a voice mail telling me something along the lines: Yo, I can't make it until Sunday. What I want you to do is leave the keys in the apartment and lock it up tonight. This voice mail is the confirmation you need that you won't be charged anything additional for the extra days. Finally. So I returned the keys just as he asked, and will be saving this voice mail for weeks to come until I receive my security deposit back.

Fun part of the story, which is why I am actually posting this tonight, is that I JUST received a response from Elijah Mohammed Rashaed tonight, my landlord, about my email sent on 10/31. He wrote:
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from: wilandlord@yahoo.com
to: Joe Blake
date: Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 6:22 PM
subject: Re: Final Walk Through Cancelled Today by Tyrone

DO NOT EMAIL ME CALL ME AT (414) 406-5383 YOU CAN MAIL ME AT PO BOX 080466 MILWAUKEE WI 53208
AGAIN I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE EMAILS THANKS
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I guess incompetent landlords like to avoid written communication as much as possible. Too bad he responded to this email and a previous email weeks earlier about my other issues I have encountered with them.

If you're reading this, stay away from this company. RSLP Properties and Elijah Mohammed Rashaed are liars and cheats. I'll post more in 3 weeks - Wisconsin law requires security deposits to be returned within 21 days along with an itemized list of deductions. We'll see if this happens. If not, this fun story may continue for several more weeks while I drag this idiot to court.