March sucks (Patreon)

This month has started off with a huge middle finger that has been taking so much of my time.

Starting late last year my home insurance company decided to bail on all its accounts in Florida. It's not an uncommon thing in the industry, but I had to get a new policy. These new people are like neighborhood nazis. Suddenly in comes a long list of demands for stuff to do to the house that is completely insane. They got it in their head that there are trees touching the house, even though there are not, and no amount of photographic evidence would appease them. Then they got it in their head that one tiny speck of green patina on a copper pipe is corrosion and must be replaced. Then they got upset about leaves on the roof. Then they got upset about stains on the roof left from the leaves and demanded that I pressure-wash the roof which would have voided the warranty (it's only a 2 year old roof). In a not-entirely-diplomatic way I told them no, and explained that if it were a standard black or brown roof their request would never have materialized, and the lack of perfect white shingles in those areas is solely the business of me and my energy bill. So I did what I could and told them that if it is not sufficient then I will shop for (and gladly give my money to) someone else.

Then in comes a letter from the IRS telling me that I owe like $8000 extra on my 2018 taxes because the company that handles rentals for my exwife's property (which I gave up my share on in 2014) keeps fucking up and listing me as the owner and filing the tax forms in my name. So now I must do not one but two tax returns this year to try and unfuck it, and I must knock these morons heads around until it sinks in and I get them to extrude the correct paperwork.

It also turns out that the title company for the farm lair botched the deed filing and instead of doing e-file which takes 20 minutes, mailed in the paperwork to the county registrar, and more than a month later it's stuck in limbo. So I can't get building permits to build the actual lair on the farm. I'm hoping that we can bypass it and fast-track it by e-filing anyways, and hope that does not fuck up the process. I am sure some asshole somewhere will show up in 8 years and tell me that it's not actually mine, but explain that somehow I owe extra taxes on it.

And the icing on the cake, I just found out that one of my friends in Venezuela died from a heart attack.

2020 is beginning to look like a good year in hindsight.