Happy Valentines Day!

I shall start with a poem to all my online friends.

What Would Life Be
by Scott Wheeler, Sr

What would life be with out friends like thee
I'll tell you, like no longer being free.
Imagine what life would be so sad and blue
To go through life without that special you.
And I know we live so far away
Through the internet we are like castaways
Never get to touch or hug you for this I only pray
For some day I hope we can meet
To hug and laugh and dance to the beat
I know this would be a treat
For now this is all I see
Is my good friend here with me
Just think what life would be
Without friends like thee

And here are some images, no i don't want my blog to look like a myspace crappy page, but for today ONLY i will do this 'cause it's Valentine's Day.
































Today you can look into the eyes of the person you are with, and say "i love you" and make the day a great memory... don't miss a good chance to show your feelings.

Much love to all my friends.

Sincerely.

Luis

When it rains, it pours!

Yesterday i come out of the library at 3PM and it's pouring, and i mean in buckets!

I ride to Walgreens. Their machine is broken and the pics won't be done until Wed. Ok, from there i ride to BK and arrived soaked to the bones. Took me a while to dry up a little bit with napkins, but my clothes were still wet.

I see Timmy and he treats me to 2 whooper jr's. Nice dude, we talk a bit. He's leaving for a gathering of hippies like him and tells me he'll be back next month.

At 5:30PM i decide to ride to my tent and take a nap, change clothes and then hit DD for the free donuts. I wake up later than expected and in my hurry to get to DD i slip on the grass on the way and my right thumb goes back a little further than it should.

Pain. I know enough that i'm certain it's not broken, maybe fractured at worst.

I get to DD, too late. Oh well, i head to BK and get me a whooper jr and read my book. 

The pain is not too bad, i get a plastic bag and put some ice in it to rest my right hand on. It helps a bit.

At 10:30PM i leave BK and ride with my swollen hand back to my tent. The rain never stopped and by the grace of god my camp is not surrounded by pools of water even though i think it should, based on the fact i'm at the bottom of a slope.

I could barely sleep, my tent had a few leaks, probably from the insane amount of rain falling down on it. I used my sleeping bag and blanket to keep me dry. 

I can't remember how many hours i slept but i can tell you it wasn't many or consecutive, an hour here and there. I'm up at 8AM and instantly feel the pain from my right hand.

It took me a bit longer to get dressed, but i had to get to BK and get out of the tent. Darr hasn't come back from NY it seems and Mary hasn't called, but i'm not worried, yet.

I stay at BK until 3:30PM as i finish my book; meanwhile i'm exercising and massaging my thumb and the muscles near it.

My guess is that in a couple of days the swell will come down.

I finally get the pics from Walgreens, which are below (of course not in order, they can't seem to get that right ever). It's 6:30PM now and i'm at the library on my laptop.



Here is me inside Darren's stretch limo =D
 


Darr took this pic of me in front of the limo, didn't come out so good unfortunately.



Donuts! yummy donuts!



Hmm, guess where i am?



Craig and his friend Susie at BK, we were there until 1AM, fun fun fun!



Me and Derr driving from the airport.



Derr's dog, Chip.



Daniel and Marilu at BK.



Me and Marilu.



Craig and Marilu that night we stayed late.



Chip and Darr's daughter.



Chip again, i like the dog.



At BK.



Smiling with my Dunkin Donuts hat.



Me and Tahysha (she is the night manager there) at DD.



Get fired up!



My laptop at the library.

I gotta go soon, need to hit DD early =P

Don't worry about me guys, i'm tougher than i look.

$10 for a digital view

Walgreens had a $10 mini digital camera on sale, here are the pics i took today with it.



This is one of the security guards at the library. He wants to buy my old laptop for $250, i paid $450 for it 4 months ago. I'll be nice and sell it to him, the cash would help since i spent a few hundred on the new one.



This is a mini laptop mouse. Bought it since it's very hard to do graphic editing with the laptop's touchpad.



Here is my laptop.



Of course i'm checking TDH's website on a regular basis.


 
And here i am, hello there!

My disposable camera is being developed so expect a second post today with tons of pics.

And then a car hits me! no joke!

Ok, so my weekend wasn't bad. Yes i got hit, but i'll leave that for the end since it happened earlier today.

Saturday night, rain. Plenty of it. To the point that Mary called and tried to convinced me to pick me up and take me back to her house to sleep. I declined and said i was ok, after all a little water wasn't going to hurt me.

However I'm really looking forward to leave my tent.

Sunday i'm at the library and someone who i've seen there almost every day i've been there approaches me and asks me for help regarding his laptop. The guy's name is Rory and i now regret helping him. Let me explain.

This dude drives his mom's car, lives with her, and he's around my age. He talks like a salesman on crack... on and on and on, about some business deals he's got going, about networking, about a new upcoming phone company owned by a latino who wants to give the profits to the poor, etc, etc, etc.

I agree out of the kindness of my heart to help him upgrade his laptop since we got the exact same model, he also bought it on sale.

He was supposed to meet me outside when the library closed. So 5PM comes and i'm outside. He's not there. I wait 10 minutes then take off to BK.

Half way there he calls me (yes i regret giving him my cell number too). He's saying he's sorry, took him longer than expected to get the laptop because he wanted some special discount which he didn't get when he bought it, etc, etc.

He could have called at 5PM and said he'd be late, at least. I guess not everyone can do that, it's ok.

I tell him to meet me at BK. He shows up and i ask him if he got the memory to upgrade his laptop. He forgot. He was at Best Buy when he was on the phone, so you can imagine how that made me realize the guy was not too swift.

So i tell him that i'll go with him to the store and make sure he gets the right memory on sale. Once we're there the guy who is behind he register next to the memory rack (Geek Squad) is busy helping a couple of females with their Dell laptop. I understand that we need to wait a bit, but Rory has no initiative to seek another associate in the store. So, i go and approach the first guy who i see is not doing anything and address him by his name on his tag, Sean. We were out and in the car in less than 5 mintes.

Back to BK. I do the installation which takes me just a few minutes, which would have cost him $40 at the store. I did him the favor and didn't ask anything in return.

He then goes on about hooking it up to his comcast self installation kit and router at home and asks me how it's done and then i reached my limit.

I said "Rory, i just did you a favor and saved you $40. I waited for you outside the library and you didn't even call to say you were late. If you want me to do anything else for you, it won't be free. Now i think it's best you get in your car and go home and handle your business. I'm here to get some food and relax.".

He then goes on to tell me... "you want some food? i got cupons in my car for free food, i'll be right back." and he goes to his car.

God help me, this guy has no common sense, or he's mentally challenged. I had to go outside and tell him i didn't want his cupons and asked him to go home.

He finally got it and left.

Hit DD for free donuts, free muffins, and a sweet Mango Smoothie that was very good, not as good as Strawberry Banana, but close.

BK, last night Mark hooked me up with a Whooper meal for giving him a Boston Creme donut, i wasn't even asking for anything in return but I was a bit hungry so i accepted his generous gesture.

Marilu is transfering to another BK tues/wed and Mark is leaving in March. All the management people i made friends with there are going to go. I'll miss them, it has been fun talking and laughing with them.

Last night i didn't sleep to good, kept waking up 2-3 times. This has become a routine lately, one i don't like.

I woke up at 6:30AM and was at BK at 7AM eating my muffins with my bag of laundry. I rode and was on the way back and was almost at Lyons road when i got ran over.

I'm ok; but my bike's front wheel was twisted like a pretzel. The guy apologized, made sure i was ok and then took me to the closest bike shop (the same that fixed my flat tire) to get the rim replaced. Cost him about $50.

Then he dropped me at BK at my request. I was going to ask him for some cash, but when he mentioned he was a firefighter.I just told him to get in his car and go. The man saves lives, that counts for a lot in my book.

I drop off my laundry, then ride to 441 and I meet Timmy who reminds me that Bill and Joan will drop by soon to give out food. Perfect timing.

We chat and we wait for them, they show up a bit after noon. Bill is helping me find a decent divorce lawyer. He tells me he will be talking to someone he knows this week. Free socks with free food. Works for me.

I head to Mc Donalds to use the free wifi where i can use Yahoo Messenger and Ventrilo since any chat software is blocked at the library. I chat with a TDH member for about 20 mins and catch up on some guild news.

Meanwhile I'm downloading Dreamweaver CS and Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 which i will need to work on the limo website.

Well i'm about to leave soon because it's freezing in here. Outside is hot so they cranked up the AC to turn everyone into polar bears, heh.

Yeah, i live an exciting life, now all i need is a room or a studio or something like that i can call home.

Homerun!

Well, i bought the laptop yesterday from Best Buy. $399 plus tax, came with 1gb ram, windows vista. You can see all the specs here.

1:45mins of riding the bike to get to the Coral Springs store since the one closer to me had sold out of them. 2 and a half hrs to save money, worth it for me, not so good for my legs.

I went and bought a 1gb ram stick to upgrade it to 2GB, then i find out (at my tent) that both slots are taken!!

For those who may not understand, a laptop usually has 2 slots for memory sticks, if the laptop comes with 1GB of RAM and both slots are taken it means each stick is 500MB of RAM and you can't upgrade it to 2GB unless you have two 1GB sticks to replace what's already there.

I go back today making a pretty good case. I didn't want to return the laptop but the salesman had misdirected me by saying there was a slot open.

So what happens?

I had paid $50 for the 1GB ram at the other store, the one closer to me has a sale on the same kind of memory for $30!

Aha! i return the 1GB stick i had bought at the other store and then buy 2 of the ones that are on sale. So for $10 my problem is solved and i can probably sell the old RAM on ebay once i get a place to stay for the ten bucks and break even.

Besides that little event, i forgot to mentioned yesterday that i managed to do something for Darr which he probably appreciate.

The puppy in the family (Rex) has been pooping and peeing everywhere in the house, that and he has done damage to almost every area in their household. Every attempt by Derr to get rid of the dog was met with Mary's tears, their kids begging and the man was outnumbered.

So the night i spent at his house i started to work on Mary, telling her how the dog is making her life more difficult and told her i would go with her to return the dog the next day. She wasn't sure, but i had a good feeling.

The next day after all the kids were in school i went with her to give the dog to the humane society. All the paperwork was done, she signed everything and she was crying. It wasn't easy but i was there for her reminding about the stress and having to clean poop all over her house.

I left a voicemail to Darr later that day, i hope he appreciates what i did. Rex was really causing him a lot of stress because he would mention the dog almost on a daily basis.

Right now i'm transfering files from the old to the new laptop and trying to get used to it. Being online without having to wait it's great.

Oooook, no really, it's ok!

Wed comes, and what happens? nada, as in no pickups at the airport, bad day.

We tried earlier in the afternoon, then he drops me off at the library and then gets me early in the evening to try again. Nothing.

I tell him right before the end of work "let's go home, and don't pay me today, i haven't earned it".

Yeah, i'm that kind of guy, call me nuts but how can i accept money when he spent gas all day and we didn't get even one customer?

It happens.

Then he's about to drop me off and we talk a bit and he mentions that the guy he hired for $300 to build the limo's website hasn't even called him since he hired him a week ago. I'm fairly familiar with building basic websites (which is what he wanted to start with) and i know a professional would take 2 hours at most to get it finished.

I told him so. He was a bit worried to the point that he had put a stop to the check he had given (whicih apparently had not been deposited yet). So i told him to give me Thursday off and that i would build the site. He was a bit hesitant but agreed to it.

Note: Derr is so busy he completely forgot that it was his birthday that day! he told me on the phone a bit later, and i ended up leaving him a "happy bday" song on his voicemail which he told me the next day that made him smile.

So the next day i'm at the library at 10AM and keep at it all the way to 7PM. Basic site finished. I had grabbed a free template online and modified it by hand (yes, that means going through lines of code, the old way) since i didn't have Macromedia Dreamweaver CS on my laptop or Paint Shop Pro 8. Those 2 programs were in my desktop and with them i probably would have been done in 2hrs instead of 9hrs.

Well that and the fact my laptop can't get online, so i had to go and use the library comnputers back and forth to get the template, to get new images, to get new content, etc. At times the computers are all booked and i had to wait 30-40mins.

Ok so then i call him and he's busy, his wife is busy. He has a flight later in the day. So the plan was to get the limo, we go in earlier, make some money, then he takes the flight and i drive the limo back to his house. That plan changed because he didn't want me to get in trouble because i have no limo license. So instead i drive him to the airport in his SUV.

On the way there he tells me "Luis, i'm very stressed today man. I got to head to NY and deal with some things there. All i want you to do now is say ok to everything i say, ok?". I didn't want to disagree, so i said "Ok".

Next thing... the man pulls the rug from under me. "You're going to drop me off, drive back to my house, and stay there for the night."

Snap! no choice but to say... "Ok."

And that is what happened, i drove to the airport and back to his house. I haven't driven in about 3 years and it was a very enjoyable ride. Now you can imagine how much he trusts me.

I stay there, talk to Mary who before the night is over gives me a Canon Z155 camera! she said it was an older one she wasn't using and since i like to take pictures to have it. I thanked her. I just did an online search and this baby costs $150-$200!!!!

She even gave me a leather case for it. As i write this i'm looking to buy a $400 on sale laptop from Best Buy so i can use some better programs on it so i can improve their website (well that and i can go online with it so i don't need to use the library's computers).

Well, time is almost up on this one, so i gotta go.

Have a great weekend everyone! =D

Changes, not just the blog

Well, my boss and his wife are very convincing. I now know why he is so successful, the man could sell ice to eskimos!

So, from 50/50 i'm now down to... no Canada trip. I'm now renewed with a new goal, to rebuild my life here in the states and get back on my feet.

So, new list of things to do.

1) Do my best at work, and keep at it hard so i don't dissapoint my new employers.
2) Start divorce procedure.
2) Get a place to live (yes, i'm leaving my trusty tent guys). Note to self: Must have internet included so i can keep in touch with friends.
4) Pay off the traffic ticket my wife never took care of and try to get my license back somehow (Derr may have a few ideas about that).
5) Date women and make new friends locally.
6) If i got a license, get a cheap car (i got a feeling Darr may also have some ideas about this).

I told my mexican friend (who actually approached Derr when he was looking for me and asking for a job! god that was not cool...) that the canada trip was off.

The man said i was running away to Canada, and i think he was right. I was so hurt by the failure of my marriage (which was partly my fault) that i didn't want to be in the country anymore. Now i will work and get back on my feet. If i can make it 3 months in a tent, i think i can make it anywhere.

Now there is something else everyone here is telling me... "Don't date white women anymore!"... i'm not joking. The girls at DD, the ones at BK and Derr and Mary (yes, it's Mary, not Miri) all told me the same thing in the past 2 weeks. Also they recommend i date latinas.

God, 20 years here and I never date one, not ONE. I did go with latinas in my 20's but that wasn't dating... that was a straight up lay, it was mostly one-nighters.

To my canadian friends, don't worry. I will visit you in Canada, but not anytime soon. Once i get my legal situation so that i can go there and come back, i'll take a trip and visit you, and give Acheron a weedgie.

Hmm, i got to get back to work in 30 mins (the morning was slow so he dropped me at the library and that was 2hrs ago).

Well, any thoughts and comments are appreciated.

Things to ponder... (beware, long post)

Well yesterday Darren (my boss) took me to the airport, and there i was; with my nicer jeans, black shoes and a shirt he gave me.

We were at the Fort Lauderdale airport and my job was to get people and he'd come out of the parking lot to drive them.

Darr instructed me carefully as to what not to do, where not to go, how to behave around certain airport people, etc. I understood and kept my eyes peeled. Not easy to sell a service on-site like that; my previous experience in sales was Toys 'r Us and a small neighborhood computer store where once customers walk in you pretty much have them in your pocket.

We worked from 9AM to 6PM, and afterwards he said i did an excellent job for my first day there. On the way back to dropping me off at BK he told me about his life, he used to be a pilot (his license is still valid). Darr spoke of his wild days of flying people to Atlantic City, Vegas, and other places. He also talked about his real estate business, how he made it big and moved down here and soon after the market crashed and thus started the limo business.

Long story, you don't need all the details but you get the idea. He is a nice guy. So as he drops me off, i asked him "Do i look homeless?" he said "Are you kidding me?". He was shocked.

Well i went and gave him a 5 minute rundown of how i became homeless and then he asked me if i could tell Miri (his wife). I saw no problem so i told him to go ahead.

He calls her, next thing he says "You're coming with me", i said "Ok".

I knew my boss was successful, but once i saw his house... i was like "wow!". It spelled WEALTH all over. 2 well groomed dogs, 3 kids, big 2 level house, garage, driveway, pool in the back inside a gated community.

Motza ball soup and chicken, that is what i had. I was their guest! they even introduced me as a guest to their kids.

Then Darr said, "Go take a shower" and i'm a bit confused so i asked "Are you sure?"... i mean these people know me a few days and already they are opening their house and letting a homeless dude take a shower at their nice house? it was too good to be true. He said "yes of course, this is my house. Miri! get him a towel!", and she did (a HUGE towel).

I haven't had a nice shower with warm water in months. I never liked cleaning up with cold water, all my life i've had warm water (even in Peru). So you can imagine how nice it felt to be in a normal bathroom and getting cleaned up the way i used to.

Next thing we're watching their big plasma tv in their livingroom (with a ceiling so high you think it may be a cathedral!).

Darr and me talk a bit, and then he said "don't talk to her no more man, don't answer no emails, no nothing... cut it like a cancer, 'cause she is sick and you are gonna get sick, listen to me.". Darr is quite direct.

He said he would help me because he sees that i can help his business. Which makes sense. Miri made tea and we all had a cup, it was very nice.

She asked me about Nina, and i told her enough that she was surprised i had stayed with her so long. I admitted it was partly my fault for not leaving sooner.

At around 10PM Derr drove me back to BK (my bike was there) and on the way he advised me to get a place, that he would try and help me find something if i wanted. I said i was fine in my tent and was saving money to go to Canada.

Then he tells me "You don't need to leave, there is nothing in Canada for you. You're running away. Stay, you can make it, i see you're a good guy. You can work and start over here." Which gave me much to think about. I'm so set on leaving for Canada assuming i had nothing left here...

Friends and other people who knew me had told me this, but i didn't want to stay... postpone for certain reasons, yes. Stay, no.

Now this very successful man, who had a family and a business (and he certainly knows what he is doing) tells me to my face i should stay... it was different. As if a bucket of water had just been dropped on my head.

Now i can't say that i will move to Canada 100% like before. I'll see how working for them works out.

Now he drops me off, and of course BK is closed. But... Marilu is running the place tonight and Craig is there. Hah! the door opens for good ol' Luis, hell yeah!

Craig introduces me to a friend (the 30 year old he was sorta seeing) and tell me that she is a lesbian (a former bi-sexual) and that they'll stay friends (even though she gets naked in front of him when drunk, and asks Craig to take pics with his phone... yeah, some crazy stuff).

So between us 4 we had a good time talking and joking around. I left BK at 1AM, i've never stayed that late in BK (or anywhere else in years).

I got to my tent to sleep. Ah, something to mention here. I haven't been sleeping too well in the past few days. I turn and twist and wake up a few times during the night. I think it's probably all the emails Nina sends me that is taking it's toll on me.

6:30AM, i wake up, can't go back to sleep. I get dressed and hit BK. I call Derr at 8:45AM telling him i'm ready to work. He tells me he will be a bit, at about 9:40 he calls and asks me to get him coffee. I had already paid for my breakfast, so i get Brittany (that is how it's spelled) the new girl to give me a coffee cup for free. I get Derr his coffee, he picks me up and we roll. I thought we were going back to the airport but Miri had an event to do (photography) and she needed him at 3PM.

Not enough time to get to the airport and make enough money. So he drops me off at the newly build Walmart Supercenter in Coconut Creek to distribute fliers.

By the time he calls (noon) i had hit about 350 cars. He tells me he will be late and to start making my way to BK. I finish the parking lot and i think my count is a bit over 400 fliers.

I get a ride to the Target which is on the way back towards Glades. I start to hit that parking lot, and he calls me again asking me where i am because he had gone to Walmart to get me so i say "Derr, i'm at another parking lot" and he replies "god you move so fast! where are you now?", so i tell him.

By the time he parks across 441 at the Lowe's parking lot i had hit about 100 cars. So a bit over 500 flies on windshields, not bad for a few hours work.

We talk a bit, he tells me more about when they lived in NY. I don't think giving you the details is a good thing, but i can honestly say, the man has lived an exciting life.

He gives me $25 for 3 hours work and then i went into BK, which was full of people. I see Craig busy so i send him a text with my phone "Where is my whooper and fries bitch?"... we're cool like that, he'll probably text me back cursing me out and we'll laugh about it tonight.

I went to my tent to change, because the shirt Derr had given me was not too good with the heat i was under. I was soaked. Hot, hot, hot day today. I'm used to it, wearing a cotton T-shirt, not a regular shirt.

I then had a problem with my bike, so i spent an hour taking the right back break apart, adjusting it and putting everything back together. Good think i have those bike tools i took with me, i had them from my Toys 'r Us days when i used to help in building bikes during chistmas years ago.

By the time my bike is set is 2PM. I ride here and here i am writing. It's 3:40PM now, gone through 2 computers writing this post.

I'm seriously considering getting a place, even if it's just to wait out the canadian winter. Oh yeah, almost forgot. I sent one last email today to Nina through myspace account (that is how she's been sending emails 'cause she doesn't know my email address) telling her i didn't want any contact with her and that i was going to delete my myspace account, sent the email and then, did it.

So, no more emails from her. Derr gave me the number to a lawyer friend of his, i will call him Monday. I need to get that done as soon as i can.

Well i wanna reply to a friend's email, so take care everyone and have a great weekend.

January Hussle!

It's that time again!

Photos of people, places and of course meh! Thanks to the very efficient Walkgreens photo development team the pics are completely out of order...bleh!



Yes I'm a fan of Dune. The original movie and then the mini-series. I'm yet to read a Frank Herbert book, but i'm going to soon (as soon as i run out of Star Wars novels), i believe his son also wrote some Dune novels which i will probably also read.



One of the hatian girls who hooks me up with food, and god... her name escapes me, but she is 21 and 5 months pregnant, nice girl.



My tent during sundown, my home, my shelter.



At the library, hmm... what does this do if i pull it?



Where i clean up, yeah... hey i got to do it somewhere!



Burger King crew, Marilu and Craig =D



Me and Marilu, of course the pic came out bad... Crait took it! oh well.



This is my usual table at BK, where (as you can see) I read my books every night.



The evil Shade, just don't tell her i said that... or she will step on more donuts!



Just chilling at sundown.

Beautiful huh? you can imagine the wealth the people have who live inside. And that is where i distributed the fliers this week.

I wonder if i can take a dip?

Hey there!

Taking a break near a lake today.

Listening to hip hop tracks (Jay-Z, Kanye West, Flo Rida, and others).

Ah, to relax and be stress free, heaven!

I'm not going in! i can't swim!

Had to take a nice pic of the lake

This is where i saw "I am Legend" a while ago.

Oh noes! i fail my camouflage skillz!

Peace my people!

I'm falling from the sky and i got no parachute!

Not sure how i messed up this pic (look at the right side).

Well there it is, this week's pic batch =D