Smash and Grab

I was the victim of a Smash and Grab. It was pretty much inevitable as I see it. The incident took place on my school grounds, in the back parking lot which is fenced in. People park in the back parking lot because it is supposed to be safer than the front parking lot which is not fenced in. Anyhow, three weeks ago I informed the Dean at my school that there was a large hole in the fence in the back parking lot. She told me they have had problems with non-students coming into the school through that hole in the afternoons. She sent in the work order.
One week ago I told my principal that the hole had not been fixed. He went out to look at it. Shortly following, he emailed me in response to an email I sent him saying that the work order had been sent in. I had also told him that I saw two men parked behind the fence in a dirt lot who had come through the hole to pick lemons off the tree on the school grounds. Wouldn't this concern you if you were in charge of the safety of 900 students and 40 teachers?
This past Friday, someone came through the hole, smashed in my passenger window, and took my cell phone and my mostly empty purse and wallet. I wouldn't usually keep those things in the car, but I accidentally left my phone and I left the purse I was not using with the wallet I was not using in the car under some lunch bags. I had intended to go back to my car at lunch and get my cell phone, but thankfully I didn't. I know that if I had I may have seen the criminals and confronted them. In the neighborhood I work in, that would just be a very bad idea. I know myself though, and when Fight or Flight comes up, I definitely Fight.
So, I can't really blame the thieves. They were given the Smash and Grab opportunity on a silver platter. I do however, blame my principal. Maybe now they will make sure the holes in the fence become a priority.

New Family Member

Here it is, our new car. We drove to Lancaster, CA and picked it up on Saturday and we could not be more pleased with the service and the car. We bought the car through Cars Direct, and there was almost a hitch at the end of the deal, but Dominc worked with them and they took care of the problem. We recomend Cars Direct to anyone looking to buy a car not only for the unbeatable pricing (they beat their online price by $300), but for the excellent service as well.

The Battle Part I

We are fighting a battle right now. It has been rising to the surface for the past couple years and this week it reared its ugly head. We knew it would finally manifest some day, and Thursday was that day.
We are battling our Homeowners Association Board.
On Thursday, our HOA sent out a letter regarding their desire for speed bumps in our neighborhood. They actaully stated that we "cannot stand idly by and allow any of our children to be maimed or killed by a speeding driver".
We really do support the safety of children, but the way the Board has gone about this project is the real problem. A couple members got together and decided they wanted speed bumps in the neighborhood to punish the speeding drivers. When they came up with a map of speed bumps, their homes conveniently had speed bumps in close proximity. These members are the kind people who think children should be allowed to play safely in the middle of the street. These members would hear nothing from the opposition and even said that we could not understand because we do not have children. They are trying to impose fear and guilt in the residents to pass their own agenda.
In response we began to fight back. We created a flyer and posted it on the mailboxes stating that we are against speed bumps and in favor of Emergency Response, Parent Accountability, and Fiscal Responsibility. Oh, I failed to mention that our association is having trouble even getting people to pay their dues with deliquency and foreclosures and yet they want to spend $10,000.
The flyers were removed while other homeowners flyers were able to remain.
I put them up again

To buy or not to buy

We have recently had quite a few car issues with our 2002 Ford Explorer and our 1994 Acura Integra. Neither of them stopped running, but when we have had one or both of them in the shop every other month it was enough to get our car buying wheels turning. So, we researched on Carsdirect.com. And we researched at Aurotrader.com. And we researched the worth of our cars on Kellybluebook.com and Edmunds.com. We have had frequent conversations about buying used a car, buying a new car, and buying nothing at all. This has taken place for well over a year as we knew we would eventually have to replace my wonderful Acura Integra, AKA "The Reliable One". Since we cannot imagine putting children in the back of the Integra, it seems to make the most sense to sell that car and buy an SUV type looking to the future, while keeping our Explorer and praying that it will continue to run. We plan to keep our car until it dies so we want something reliable.
So, over the last week we have been looking seriously at the Honda Pilot. There was once a time when I wouldn't even consider this car because I thought it to be ugly. I guess I have grown up a bit because I started looking at this car for the price, safety and the reliability factors. All week long Dominic has been working with Cars Direct and Galpin Honda in L.A. to get the best deal. When the price, which we already thought was great, dropped another $1,000 we became really serious. We finally came to the conclusion that this was a deal we could not pass up for our growing family and we bought the Honda Pilot to be picked up from Lancaster this weekend.