Still waiting...

for our direct deposit. I'm checking out the Esplanade apartment this afternoon. I figure if it doesn't smell like cat pee, we're in business.

No shit.

I'm positively shocked.

Also, notice how much coverage of this we've seen? I guess they were just "finders."

Pay close attention to how this is treated by the press and the Feds. Is anyone blaming the victims for living in tornado alley? I just feel sorry for these people as they find out their insurance company doesn't have them in the good hands they believed in, they don't get the FEMA trailers promised, and the state runs out of money before they can be helped.

"This is one of the most devastating tornadoes we have had in Kansas," said U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran. At a shelter in neighboring Haviland, Cheryll Behm said her home in Greensburg is probably repairable, unlike the rest of the town. "I am concerned Greensburg never will be built," said Behm, a nurse's aide at the Greensburg hospital.

Now where would anyone get an idea like that?

All's quiet.

Another fun weekend in New Orleans. Saturday I went apartment hunting and think I may have found a winner. Between Craigslist and the article, we actually had two pretty good choices, both in Broadmoor. While we're sad to be leaving the French Quarter, we just couldn't find something that would work with the limited lease term and The Beeb. Oh well, we can always visit.

Other than that, not much to report. Jeez, I hope something exciting happens so I can blog about it!

Closing day

Big day yesterday. First I had to go to the bank to get our account information on Chase letterhead so we could get a direct deposit of our RHP money. They wanted to argue with me about it, saying that a regular page was just fine, and that's what the manager preferred and "it would be ok." This went back and forth until I had to bring out the, "I don't care what she prefers. This is what the RHP told me to bring to closing, and they're the ones with the money. I have fought them for seven months, and I'm not about to have closing fall through because YOU won't give me letterhead." I think I restrained myself rather well under the circumstances.

The closing itself was fast and easy. We showed up about 20 minutes early, and they took us about five minutes early. The signing of the documents took about 20 minutes, but most of that was our English-not-a-first-language person was scanning our drivers licenses and thumb prints. As we walked out, an attorney asked us if our signatures were ours, presumably so he could notarize it later. Uh, right. Very professional operation they have going. They tell us that we'll get our money in about five days. I don't believe it, but then, I won't until I see it in the account. Can you blame me?

I looked at one more apartment yesterday afternoon. It was in a pretty nice location, being on Esplanade right off Royal. It even had a pool. It was also $300 a month more than we're already paying and getting dangerously close to our mortgage payment. I refuse to pay in rent what we're already having to pay in a mortgage. The apartment I had intended to see vanished at the last minutes as the owner changed his mind about renting it. It seems like the good prospects are disappearing as get closer to them, almost as if they were mirages and we'll be living in our cars. I guess that's an overstatement. The Beeb would eat our cars if it ever came to that.

C'mon, what else?

Today is allegedly the big day. Last night, however, when examining our closing documents I noticed an error in the legal description for the house. Seems as if someone moron at either the RHP or First American (each blames the other, natch) copy and pasted the wrong information. Instead of the tax bill number and legal description (LOT F, SQUARE Q, etc.) for our house, there are the details for some random house in Lakeview.

Now, while this mightn't be a problem for most, it could be for me. You see, the practice of law depends heavily on the public trust. As a result, the bar committee tends to frown on fraud. If I sign a witnessed document attesting to the veracity of something that I KNOW if false, I'm committing fraud. Ergo, this is a big deal to me, my unused license, and my student loans.

So, like a good citizen I called both the RHP and First American. Both blamed the other for the error, but swore that it "shouldn't be a problem." When asked what happens if we show up and it's still not fixed, nobody could tell me. Great. So, we go to closing (unless they call to cancel between now and then) hoping for the best. If you've been paying attention for the last seven months, you know how much sense that makes.

I've always depended on the kindness of strangahs.

One of the interesting side-effects of the InsideOut articles are the unsolicited emails and letters we get from people: 1) wishing us luck; 2) offering an apartment; and 3) seeking the email addresses of the RHP people. In the apartment search the emails have almost restored my faith in humanity with the number of total strangers coming out of the woodwork to offer Kayla, The Beeb, and I somewhere to stay for three months. It seems that we now have an embarrassment of options. Even one of the photographers for the article (who we also share dog obedience classes with) has offered a place to stay. As bitter and negative as one could become from the aforementioned trees of woe, it helps to have these random acts of kindness to prop ourselves up on.

Charlie is demolishing away, and I look forward to going to the house tonight to see what's left. Hopefully we can get to the structure soon!

Also, check out this article. This is unsurprising both in the fact that it happened, and in the fact that no one really seems to care. Not only are they so shameless as to deliever defective goods that people are trusting their lives to, but they figure they can cut-and-paste, typos and all, and nobody will notice. Sad thing is, even when U.S. Senators notice, nothing happens to these people. But I guess even when you kill more Americans than any time since the Civil War and there are no consequences, you can't expect a pump contract to generate much interest.