So yesterday I got this lovely email from my community email group...

(Oh... MOM... stop reading.... NOW!!!)

WEST COUNTY
Armed robbery

Two masked men robbed a man at knife-point near an Odenton apartment (actually it was a condo) complex Thursday night, county police said.

The man told police he was walking in the 2400 block of Chestnut Terrace at about 7:55 p.m. when two men approached him and pulled out a knife.

The robbers ordered the man to empty his pockets. After taking the man's cash, the men ran behind a nearby apartment building, police said. The victim was not injured.

One robber is described as black, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 140 pounds, and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, dark pants, white shoes, and a ski mask.

The second man is described as Hispanic, 5 feet 6 inches tall, 180 pounds, and was wearing a red sweater and dark ski mask

Regular readers and Twitter/Facebook followers know that I am house hunting... and my mother is not happy with at least one of the neighborhoods that I have been looking in. But I will take this blog post to point out that crime happens everywhere (and it is really picking up in Odenton!!..Example 1 and Example 2). You cannot live in fear....but you can be aware of your surroundings (which I usually am...) If I notice a car behind me late at night... and they follow me onto the road before the street my home is located on... I have been known to skip my street and continue on in a round about way and if they are still behind me the plan is to head to the Police station (which I have never had to do :)). Know your neighborhood! If something makes you suspicious... take precautions!

Sent from my BlackBerry

Looks like I may be getting out just in time!


Regular readers may remember that I am still on the Board of Directors for my Condo's HOA. Earlier this week we got the summary of letters that were mailed out to various owners (for whatever by-laws they were violating :P). There was only one. It was about busted pipes causing a leak. My first thought was -- These buildings are only 7 years old... pipes should not be busted already!!!

Come to find out yesterday..... he owner of that unit ran off with a guy in October... and no one knows where she is. The heat was left off... and you can guess the rest! (Oh and she left her car too!)

So now I am worried that if she has been gone since October... has she been making her mortgage payments? Will her unit be getting foreclosed on soon?

Crazy!

I hope my condo sells fast.... I am way past ready to be gone from here!

And the fun continues...

I knew the HOA meeting last month went too smoothly. It was actually the best one ever!
Anyway aside from BOD members (of which I am still one:P) 4 owners showed, including resigned BOD member (hereafter referred to as B). She was actually quiet throughout most of the meeting as we did our business. Then at open forum time, she walked up to the BOD table and presented a list of 2 car license plat numbers that she said always parked in the same spot, she indicated 1 had expired plates and one had out-of-state plates (i guess in her mind it is a crime to have out of state plates !?) Anyway the Property manager indicated that she had Parking violation notices that she would give us and we could take care of this ourselves.

BOD member indicated she knew the owners of one of the cars and that she would followup, and the next day I figured out which car with out of state plates was being targeted, and indicated that the car does get driven, and I knew which building the owner lived in (so it was not a BOD issue anymore).

FF to this morning... the outside buzzer to my unit starts ringing at 5:20 am! ( I did not answer ... I was up but was no where near ready to head out and was on a tight schedule to catch my MARC.)

BOD member caught up to me at MARC station a bout a half hour later....and indicates the following...

She was walking her dog this morning and noticed a towing notice on one of the cars (the one for the owners that she knows, not out-of-state plates)! She asked me if I put it there. I said no. She said it must have been B. I said well it could have been B's friend. BOD member said no, B's friend does not have a printer... this was a printed notice (as opposed to a professional form).

So now we need to go around and put out notices that these actions are not being taken by the BOD and are not approved by us! The property manger is sending the towing company an auth form which indicates who exactly can contact them about HOA related towing.

B is a complete B*tch and total hypocrite. She resigned from the BOD in March with the statement that she is too busy to be on the BOD, but she is walking around scoping out license plates and picking up used condoms! Oh and the best part... she doesn't even live in the community. She used to , but moved about 4 years ago. Her and her husband do own a unit (not the one they lived in) where her elderly Aunt lives. B likes to go around making crap up so that she can send out violation letters... she wanted to send someone a letter because they keep their blinds pulled up all the way to the top, a few residents wanted to put stepping stones in as a path to their front units.. B was forcibly opposed and it was ultimately denied. Guess who ended up putting stepping stones in that led to her back unit ? Yep B! When I questioned it she said grass wasn't growing there and the (old )Management Company gave her permission... well the Mgmt company is not the one who gives permission for stuff like that... its the BOD.

Fallout from this should be fun!