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The blog has moved.

I Hate My Developer is now live on ChicagoNow.

Come on over and continue reading about my little patch of Woodlawn.

Moving Day

Yes, it's really happening.

This humble concern will soon have a new home at ChicagoNow, a Chicago Tribune media property.

Lift your jaws up off the ground.

You'll still get the same cracker jack observations, sleuthing and general rabble rousing that you've always loved, but you'll be surrounded by just a few more people.

And when I say few more I mean a lot more.

The business of moving the blog is underway. Once a few more things are in place, I expect I Hate My Developer 2.0 to go live sometime next week.

Strap yourselves in kids, this is gonna get interesting.

Evolution

An exciting change is on the horizon for I Hate My Developer. Stay tuned for the big announcement in the next few days!

Best Kept Secret

I discovered late last night that "I Hate My Developer" is a finalist in the "Best Kept Secret Weblog" category for the 2010 Bloggies.

I almost plotzed myself.

I'm really honored that voters thought enough of what I write to offer it up to everyone else for their final consideration.

For those of you who are coming to my humble little concern by way of the Bloggie website, welcome.

Since there's no pressure to go through all of the 650+ posts (unless you really want to), if you scoot down the left sidebar you'll see a section labeled "Essential Posts" for your perusal.

'Cause from time to time people want to know how I came up with such a catchy name for the blog.

Nonetheless, lets get down to the important stuff.

Where's the swag?

It's awards season and we all know that with all of these ceremonies and the hoopla there's usually some type of free stuff from luxury purveyors.

They want high profile peeps to be seen in their stuff.

Yet for some reason I don't think that Rolex is clamoring to get the watches on the wrists of Bloggie finalists.

But wouldn't it be a better world if they did?

So in the absence of crazy swag, I'd appreciate your vote.

And the votes of your friends.

A Bloggie may not solve my unemployment issues or help me figure out how to keep my utilities on but it will reinforce that my writing for the past four years has been valued and appreciated.

Frankly speaking, I could use a little bit of both right about now.

On The Come Up, Garden Edition

I was waiting for the bus last week and happened to look over towards the community garden and saw new structures on the property.

Now that the leaves are off the trees you can easily see the garden from Stony Island.

Naturally, I trotted over there a few days later and this is what I saw:







We now have a new pergola that will be catching rain water for collection in one of several barrels AND provide shade.

As you can see, they kept the old one. It's just in another part of the garden.

There is also a new sturdily constructed storage shed.



You know it's quality when you see the nice Amish people hammering away.

Out of all of the odd sights I've seen on the south side, none was odder than the Amish rolling through the 'hood.

Perhaps other business people will take note. The Amish will go anywhere they can make money. They don't judge a neighborhood by marketing and sales projections and put out a quality product.

Plus I've been angling to get one of those white caps for my hair when I garden.

Nonetheless, the garden looks even better, cleanup day is tomorrow AND I hear that we're getting a new fence in the spring.

Now if we could only get rid of those flipping Japanesse beatles.

On The Come Up

Since I rarely drive I may have missed the fact that the 63rd and the Dan Ryan had both inbound and outbound exit ramps.

Nonetheless the south bound exit coming from the city seems new to me.

Now I'm hoping the construction is sound and nothing falls apart, but can you believe this landscaping?



Yes ladies and gentlemen, this is 63rd and Wentworth.

But I'm sure you could tell that by the grattiesque auto parts sign in the background of this picture. Prettying up the urban landscape won't happen overnight.

Normally the ramp medians would be choked with weeds and trash.

This looks like something you'd see on the north side.

We're on the come up.

How Facebook Saved My Ass, Part 2 or How The Collegiate Mafia Came Through Once Again

My recent mortgage foolishness has been a thorn in my side.

And that's putting it mildly.

For those of you who have been reading for quite some time, you know the past few years haven't been paradise.

Jesus take the wheel.

But as we all know, bad things happen to good people everyday. And in some cases, really, really bad things happen to really, really good people.

So in the grand scheme of things, my issues were (are?) a cake walk.

No one was bleeding, I could stil feed myself and I had a roof over my head.

Now my mortgage servicer was trying to affect the later.

Obviously, I was upset.

One of my dear friends who is a regular reader of this blog suggested that I contact a mutual friend of ours who might be in a position to offer some advice.

She also mentioned that she recently reconnected with her on Facebook.

At this point, the situation was (is?) dire----what did I have to lose?

So I reached out to our friend after many years.

I felt a little awkward as we haven't spoken in for some time but have many friends in common from our college days.

So I took a chance.

After a round of phone tag, we spoke and I explained my situation.

It's not that I want to antagonize Select Portfolio Servicing but I failed to understand why there was such a glaring hole in the Obama plan.

But don't get me on that soap box right now.

Let's just suffice it to say, I pray you all don't lose your jobs, run through your severance and savings.

Unless you're the auto industry or banking, let's just say your bailout options are severely limited.

But I digress...

Within hours, my friend received my information via e-mail and said that she would see what she could do.

Two days later, I received a much more sympathetic phone call from my mortgage servicer.

Now they wanted to give me "options."

To quote the late great Dinah Washington, "What a difference a day makes."

I wouldn't have been given "options" without the suggestion of my friend who in turn found our other friend on Facebook.

That's when I started to think, there actually might be something to this little thing.

So I had to check it out.

While my college network may not have as much prestige at The Northwestern Mafia, I may be able to argue that they aren't any less influential.

The Good Neighbor

Neighbors.

You're blessed if you have good ones. If not, the few good ones you have will stand out even more.

It's difficult to put into words how much I simply adore this young woman. We initially met because of former neighbors but her blog also keeps me in stitches.

Before I go on a rant about bad neighbors, I'd like to reintroduce you to Erin, the author of Swim & Glitter. Her posts make me laugh out loud.

Her latest one is no exception.

You'll hear me talk about a great many things. My sex life won't be one of them.

Making Amends

It finally happened.

The Roosevelt Collection not only refunded my friend’s earnest money but also his upgrade money.

All in all it took roughly two weeks for the checks to be issues once all the final paperwork was signed.

So The Roosevelt Collection manned up and did the right thing by their purchasers. That, my friends, is a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dismal real estate market.

Keeping your word, providing good customer service---go figure.

Perhaps some folks in Uptown might catch a clue.

Or could it be that the consequences of their actions are slowly but surely about to catch up with them?

Time will tell.

Hammer Time

If you think for one minute that I wouldn't be all over this if given the opportunity, you're nuts.

Ladies and Gentlemen, that was a big bowl of awesome!

A&E, let's flash mob Michigan Avenue.

Drop me a line, let's talk.