Bye Shady Neighbors

Perhaps I should have clarified in my last post: Snoop Dogg is gone, but the shady chick he was um, hanging out with? still lives here, and always has a steady stream of shady guys staying with her/dating her, whatever.

Friends, I hate to type it here in case it might not happen, but here's the deal: we talked to the property managers and they said their lease is up April 30 and they're not giving them the option to renew. Possibly, just possibly, we'll be ghetto-free in a few weeks.

I also found out that one of the shady guys called my very lovely asian neighbor every racial slur in the book because she had the audacity to watch them try to break into their own apartment. She said she was too scared to call the cops. Poor thing.

Snoop Dogg Sighting!!!

Ok, so Pete and I went on a date tonight for ice cream. The place near our apt. was closed (for good) so we drove a few miles further to another place. And who do we see, sitting in the parking lot of the shopping center, afro completely wild, wearing of course, a wife beater with pants falling off his butt, is Snoop Dogg. This is like 3 miles from our apartment, which is a very long way in suburban strip mall land (that is our hood). And there he is, chillin with his homies who were on the phone.

Immediately I regressed into a 14-year-old girl, saying omigodomigodomigod at least 15 times. He/His homie was parked outside of a drug store, not near the ice cream store, thankfully. Afterwards we looked for him but he was long gone. I guess he's shacking up elsewhere these days. Pete said maybe I miss Snoop Dogg, just a bit, because it gave me something to keep tabs on. Maybe he's right. Maybe if we're really lucky we'll have another gangsta neighbor sometime.

We're Moving, We're Not Moving, and various other things going on

Ok so things with Snoop Dogg have continued, with the cops being out here twice this week. Right. So we've put in another complaint letter to management and we're considering our options. We went to look at two apartment communities in the area on Friday night. Option 1= $250 less in rent, closer to a downtown little community and our kickass farmer's market. The reality though, the apartments were incredibly run down and ghetto. Um, no. Option 2 = slightly further away from lovely little community and farmer's market. Rent = $100 more than we're paying. Um, no. I don't care what they look like, we're not going to the hassle and expense of moving to pay MORE in rent. Nope, nope, nope. 

You may be wondering why we opt for the apartment community route. Yes, other places have more charm. But look, I'm pregnant and don't want to wonder if the house has bugs or mold or asbestos, etc. and if the landlord is crazy. Plus, an apartment community most often comes with a pool and fitness center (huge for me). 

So the bottom line is we think we got it pretty good here, aside from Snoop Dogg. We'll see if management takes action -- let's hope they do. 

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.