My Phone Went Bad...Gone, All Gone

 

18 months ago I picked up this phone from Amazon to replace a phone much like it which was still working, BUT the keys stuck so it was hard to operate, especially making text messages.  Knowing that the cell phone companies were moving away from 3G phones, I figured the $40 price tag was worth it.  Funny thing, had I waited six month I would have been able to pick one up for under $20, which is what I did when someone tossed their cell phone towards me and it landed in a pool of water.  Well, now days, you just can't hardly find them anymore for the Verizon Network.

Sunday morning the phone was working around 7 am...by 8:30 it was gone...totally died, nothing except for heat coming from it when I opened it up and took the battery out.  RIP little flip phone, along with ALL of my notes, ALL of my calendar info, and a few picture of Skruffy which I will never see again.

Now I was holding out for the new, 4G Razer Phone coming out this year...it is a folding smart phone which, when you unfold, gives you a large smart phone screen.  Then I saw the price...$1,500!!!!   Nope, just not going there.  Besides, I am so hard on phones, which is why I have not bothered with a smart phone so far...and this new phone is a Kyocera DuraXV LTE E4610 Verizon, Rugged, Waterproof, Flip Phone for $150.  Besides the price, the only down side is that it's twice the weight of the old phone because it is twice as thick.  However, it is 4G, and I can actually browse the Internet with it, and I can actually get those 'smiley faces' that some people, names not mentioned, like to respond with which, with the old phone showed up as two small empty boxes.  Called mom, and she said it sounded like I was right in the room with her.  Connected it to our home Internet and to our Aircard for when we are traveling, and set the cellular data to off so I won't use any cell data on our main Verizon plan, but can use data on our prepaid Verizon Aircard with unlimited data for $65 per month.  Now, adding some of my old notes and calendar date will be a long process...but since I transferred my phone numbers to Marcia just 12 months ago, I re-transferred them back to my phone through Bluetooth and I was back in business.  This phone also has a better camera, has a SD Card to store pictures and back up your phone numbers to, and did I mention how rugged it is, and waterproof???  I am counting on it lasting for many years...time will tell.

It has been over two weeks, and no word from the Association pertaining to Bubba.  As far as we are concerned, Bubba is legal, and if they want to officially say otherwise, bring it on...we will win hands down.

Next Wednesday we are going on a two night trip to visit friends and family over in the Orlando area.  A friend of Marcia's who lives in the Chicago Area is down in Orlando for a few weeks.  We visited with her last back in 2017, and we have an early lunch date with her in Orlando on Thursday.  Later that afternoon Marcia's brother Dean and wife Caryl will meet us at a Cracker Barrel in Sandford for dinner.  So on Wednesday we are going to get into the motorhome, car in tow, and go over to the east end of Pasco County and get the motorhome washed at a Blue Beacon Truck Wash, fill up with gas and stay at the Rest Area along I-75.  Thursday we will head over to Orlando and have lunch with Gladys, and then move to Sandford and meet Dean and Caryl at Cracker Barrel in Sanford.  Dean, by-the-way, needs to visit Orlando for a VA Doctor appointment, so they will pass right by Cracker Barrel on their way home.

Ok, Here We Go Again -- Service Animal and Condo Board

 

Back in 2014 we faced a huge battle getting Skruffy approved as a Service Dog with the Condo Association.  Well, unfortunately, the Association, run by a different person this time, is still 'Barking' at the idea.  (pun intended)

First, back in 2018, with a new president at the helm, we were asked to have Marcia re-certified as having a disability and a need for an emotional needs dog.  I sent off a scathing letter which said, in part, that we did not have a emotional needs dog, we have a service dog...and that the Condo Association already had a letter from a Neurologist which clearly stated that she has MS, that she needs the services of a dog, and frankly we were offended by the idea that Marcia would have to re-certify...MS is for life, it does not go away.  I threatened with another HUD complaint if they pursued the matter any more, and never heard back from them.

 

So today we got a Registered Letter, which the post office tried to drop off yesterday but we were at Marcia's Doctor's appointment (which went very well, by-the-way), so at 10:30 I go over to the post office and as I expected, it was a letter from the Condo Association.  They wanted us to fill out a full page application pertaining to Bubba, and then, on top of that, take a two page application to the doctor for him to fill out pertaining to Marcia.  So I get back home, and talk to Marcia, and then head off to the Association President's place to see if I could talk sense into her.  We had submitted the same form for Bubba which was agreed on back in July of 2014...and she accuses me of using the Association's Letterhead (which was part of the form) without their permission!  Well, if you know me, that set me off.  I tried to tell her that this form is the form agreed to back in 2014, and she said "no, it was not", even though she was not on the board back then.  I told her I would abide by the 2014 agreement, and I would put that in writing and she could send that off to their lawyers.   

 

So I go through all my paperwork from before, write a two page letter explaining how they are not following HUD rules, not following ADA procedures, and that we were not notified of the new form, nor was anyone else living at the condos notified, and that we will NEVER have Marcia re-certified, and "IF" they have a new form pertaining to a dog, that we would consider using that form "IF" it followed HUD and ADA rules and procedures.  I included this line:

"Association Presidents and Board Members come and go, MS does not go away. HUD is very clear that once the Association Board knows that she is disabled, and needs a service dog, that they MUST provide a waiver to the “no pet” rule."

The real bad thing about it is that this has brought undo stress upon Marcia, again.  Stress and MS do not mix well at all.  Attached to my two page letter was six different items, most multiple pages, where I highlighted HUD Rules which were being violated, including one which included the idea that all of this might be in retaliation to our HUD complaint, which is a major violation of the law.  Now the ball is in their court...let's see how they want to play it.