Another Update on Snoop Dogg

Folks, we can't tell if he's officially gone. We did see him last night, he had a ton of garbage bags in his ghetto-tastic car, and I can only hope (pray) that those are his belongings and he's in the middle of moving.

But the apartment community as a whole is much quieter and peaceful. Thank God!

Pictures from Jamaica

Here they are!

Lookeee Here!

http://autoshow.autos.msn.com/autoshow/Detroit2008/video_portal.aspx

On the right about two-thirds down the page is a clip called Michelin Challenge Design. Mr. Hansen is interviewed. :) Mrs. Hansen is very proud.

Update on Snoop Dogg!!

OK friends, there's no sign of Snoop's gangsta car, Snoop's friend's porch is dark, and his illegal dirt bike is gone off the porch and most exciting -- there's garbage bags on the porch. I suspect his friend is in the process of moving out. 

Cross your fingers!!

Lessons Learned on a So-So Vacation

We've just returned from 5 days in Jamaica. It was Ok. We really should have researched the place we were staying more, instead of trusting Judy Hack from Destinationweddings.com, who told us the resort was lovely and would be great for our "honeymoon." We moved our trip to Jamaica since my (Heather) stepbrother was getting married on Valentine's Day. It was a lovely wedding, and it's always fun to hang with family. But the resort was fairly terrible, and geared to toddlers. It was fairly nightmarish for us, as we're just getting used to the concept of having a baby in the future, much less a hair-pulling, ketchup-smearing screaming mess. The food wasn't very good and overall, I think the trip was really disappointing. Oh well. Lessons learned. Pete will post pictures soon.

Dear Snoop Dogg,

I heard that your friend is in the process of getting evicted. I'm really sorry to hear it. Even though you don't live in the complex and have absolutely no right to not follow the rules of the community, I'll really miss you.

I'll miss your gold teeth, your charming ensembles of wife beater tees and pants that ride below your butt. I'll miss your beat up, gangsta car, with its positively-illegal radar detection/cop intervention device on the dash, and how low it sits to the ground.

I'll miss how you attempted to recreate the set of Sanford and Son that one day, complete with your friends working on cars and drinking beer in the parking lot. I'll miss your yelling and hollering, and how on Saturday night at 1 a.m. I could tell you were home given how loud your car stereo was playing.

I will also miss how you and your friends decided that the parking lot was a perfectly reasonable hang out spot for 7 hours on Saturday, although I wonder if it was uncomfortable sitting in the driver seat for so long. It's a good thing you kept moving back and forth between the seats!!

But really, I will most miss that day that the cops told Pete to stay inside for his own safety, as you were attempting to evade police. You can't put a price on memories like that, Snoop.

My only hope is that you'll bring the same joy to the next community you mooch off.

With affection,

Heather

Big news!

And here is the first picture of what is due on September 23:

















Looking at the ultrasound image you see a black circle, in which the little dude floats. If you look closely you can also see two crosses, one located about the shoulders, and another at the butt, the length between these are about 1 centimeter.

Suspected B+E

Back when I was a journalist, I got to cover some pretty cool stuff and learn about detectives and what to look for when making a crime report. This came in handy today when I'm working from home, and look over at our lovely balcony, to see a strange man literally 6 feet away from me (though separated by glass), scaling our back fence to get onto the balcony above ours. I had heard someone knocking for some time, and thought wow that person is really persistent. But I had no idea the lengths this guy would go to -- I jumped and yelled What the __________?? And he pointed to the balcony above, then tried the door, then scaled back down and took off. We called the police immediately -- they're on the way over -- and we also called the property manager to let them know this type of stuff is not OK and we are concerned for our safety and want them to do something. This comes a day after we sent a letter documenting everything else that's happened. Apparently there's a clause in our lease that says we can break our lease if we are concerned for our safety. Friends, we might be doing that sooner than you think. Today's activity scared me to death. Really.

Afternoon drama

So yesterday this dude knocks on the door and asks if I am interested in buying magazines, totally shady deal. I say no. A little later I notice a cop walking in the parking lot so I figured somebody else called about him, but a little later as I stand in the porch door looking at all the cops coming in, a plain-clothes police officer approaches me with a picture of one of the shady neighbors we call "Snoop Dog" and asks if I had seen this guy within the last 10 minutes, I said "no", so this was clearly not about the magazine dealer, but something bigger.

There are now probably 20 cops, 5 cars and a motorcycle hanging outside our apartment building, standing behind trees, guns ready. About 20 minutes into it, Snoop Dog comes out, is handcuffed and taken into the police cruiser.
I ask the officer that asked me about the photo what he was taken for and he says "previous crimes". Obviously.




Two cops talking in the parking lot. I took these pictures inside through the blinds and the fence around the patio so they could have been a lot better.

The officer that asked me about the picture.


More officers in front of Snoop Dogs apartment, on the left.


A couple more officers hanging by their cars.


Snoop Dog taken out. (I'm really bummed about the quality here, but I had no way to know the speed/aperture settings when the LCD screen on the back is busted.)