Frustration - a short post about something other than transgender life

 

I recently attended a co-op board meeting.  Although I won't go into details about what we discussed, I will go into some of my observations in regard to this meeting....

- - - - - -

Knowing what was going to happen at the meeting, I knew to allocate 3 hours of my evening for the board.  This got in the way of my finally doing laundry, but this was my laziness' fault and not the board's fault.  Around 6 pm, I opened up the meeting, and the president gave us the latest status updates on matters of concern.

Around 6:30, we interviewed an applicant who wants to live here, and we reported the result of our vote to the site manager from the old company.  After that, the outgoing site manager gave his report, and we relayed our concerns to him.  But this isn't what frustrated me.  One board member was trying to slow down our decision making, something which would cost the co-op (and our shareholders) big bucks.  I was almost at my breaking point when I told her in no uncertain terms - stop getting in the way.  No one is going to come out of the blue and rescue us - we have to deal with our problems ourselves.  Both the president of the co-op and I are tired of this lady.  She has nothing to offer, and only stands in the way of making any real decisions.

When the meeting ended, I chatted with the board's president about my frustrations, noting that I will take care of a letter that has to be sent out before Xmas.  The problem is that our outgoing management firm may either slow walk the letter, or simply not send it out in time for our shareholders to deal with upcoming changes.  Hopefully, we will get things done on time....

A visit to the bank and a feast at home

 

As I am one of two people who have signatory powers for the co-op, I was expected to meet the board's president at the bank for whatever tasks were needed as we transfer our operating account from one bank to another, one management company to another.  Since I am only known to the bank as Mario, this determined how I'd dress for the rest of the day.  (The cold weather outside reinforced the decision to dress in Mario mode today as well.)

Around 11 am, I arrived at the bank, and found that our president had mostly completed work at the bank.  All that was left for me was to email a copy of a form to the new managing agent, and to collect reimbursement money for renewing our Zoom account.  And then, we were done.  Now, it was time to rest until I had to pick RQS up at the train station.

At 3:45 pm, I picked RQS up at the station, and then we took a drive to Yorktown and Uncle Giuseppe's.  (Uncle Giuseppe's is an Italian Specialty supermarket with locations in the NYC suburbs.)  Unlike Trader Joe's, where I have a hard time breaking $50 in a typical visit, I broke $100 at Uncle Giuseppe's on this visit.  And this visit only resulted in less than 2 supping bags worth of food.  At least, we got our meal for the night - Zuppa de Pesce. Our next stop was at the Foodtown, where I only wanted to pick up some fresh pasta that I forgot at our prior stop.  And that's where RQS accidentally flushed ker keys down the toilet.  Now, that forced us to get some keys cut sometime this weekend.  

We finally got home and relaxed before I started to prepare dinner - and it was tasty.  Both RQS and I enjoyed our meal and the dessert we had afterwards.  But now, we had another thing to take care of this weekend....

The work looks done ...and none too soon

 

Although the photo quality isn't great, the retaining wall looks great this morning.  Why is this important? Over the years I've lived here, this wall was constructed and then failed.  My co-op needed to repair it, and I was one of the loudest advocates for this repair.  The repairs were finally completed while I was on my cruise.

Why is this important?

Given retaining wall failures which have affected the commuter rail line I live near, the last thing I want to see is a preventable landslide which could either destabilize our building, negatively affect downhill neighbors, or both problems.  

- - - - - -

As I've noted in the past, I live in a naturally occurring retirement community (for many of us long term residents), as apartment ownership has proven the best investment for our needs.  We know that someone else has to take care of the property, and that we can reside in the apartment as long as we are able to pay the maintenance.  (I won't get into other issues for leaving in this discussion.)  And that's where the problem lies.  Most of us, myself included, live on fixed incomes.  Older people usually have fewer resources to draw on, and are least likely to afford maintenance hikes or property assessments. 

Most co-op boards have to balance the needs of their shareholders.  Do we raise maintenance charges, knowing it might be a hardship for some?  Do we apply an assessment for needed repairs, as we did when we had to replace our windows many years ago?  Do we defer maintenance, so that we don't have too many bills being presented to the co-op at once?  There are so many things a co-op board must address, and there is no way we can make everyone happy.

I am lucky to have the resources to pay my bills (and a little bit more).  Many others are not.  The position a co-op board member has to take is similar to being a fiduciary - one must act in the best interest of the client, and not of his firm.  In my case, my responsibility is to the health of the co-op, and not any one individual member - including myself.  That's why I pushed for repairing the retaining wall as much as I did.  And now it's done... 

Trying to keep on top of things - a short post

 

 

As my long time readers are aware, I am on my co-op's board of directors.  And the thing I hate doing most is paperwork - especially the type that I need to take notes for, or to record financial information.  So what happened to me?  I am now the official note taker for our monthly meetings, and have to deal with monthly minutes.  What bothers me more is that my brother is asking me to take care of all the paperwork for the family homestead, something I know I'll screw up no matter how easy he tries to make it for me.

It's hard for me to deal with paperwork, as I will gloss over things that should have been recorded and that I will misfile things in logical places.  And now, I'm trying to keep on top of things for which my actions could affect others.  AARGH!

Soon it will be time to take care of my taxes.  Hopefully, I will have overpaid enough during the period that I worked last year, so that what I underpaid from my pension will not cause me any negative tax consequences.  Next year, I can fix this issue by over withholding taxes from my social security payments.  Until then, I have to stay on top of things, so that I have enough money in the right places to pay my taxes.... 

Cancer Sucks!

 

As I was parking in my usual parking spot, I saw a neighbor walking with a cane.  Normally, he's in the best of health and able to take on an army without showing any stress.  So what gives?  Since he was having trouble getting out of his friend's car, I couldn't help but ask him "What happened?"  And the answer surprised me - he has lymphoma.  Since I don't want to give out any information which can identify him further, I will say nothing about the type of work he does, save that it requires him to be in the best of health.

- - - - - -

This development explains why his car hasn't moved in days.  Luckily, this form of cancer has a 92% cure rate.  But he is worried.  He wants to make it to retirement age, sell his apartment, and move to where his money can go a lot further than it does here.  While we chatted, he mentioned the board member who had been treated for cancer, then died of Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic.  I mentioned that my late wife died of cancer.  But I stopped short of volunteering any help.  There is not much I could do for him, save to drive him back and forth between his apartment and medical appointments.  Given that I have little energy these days, I'd be a lousy person to give him much help.

Obviously, this man has at least one friend nearby that can help him.  TCL and I have the same problem - we don't have the friends who could help us if something like this happened to us.  There is no way that I could call on FCP or an ex-girlfriend for assistance, and I don't think I'd want to even consider them even if we were still friends.  (The ex-girlfriend showed her true colors when we had our kerfuffle, and FCP would use it as a cudgel to get what she wants in one way or another.  It's better that I remember all the help I gave her with getting to hospitals, etc. than to let her say it was a one way deal in my favor.)

I'm rooting for this neighbor.  Hopefully, he'll be one of the 92% who live more than 5 years after diagnosis.