Category Archives: ToRn’s Posts

Today I had to run some errands for Pauline, so I started around 9 am and had about 4 places I need to stop at, at the last stop it was only 9:40am and it opens at 10am, so I decided to go to a Sports store and look at what they had to kill some time. On the way back to the store I saw our buddy, the homeless guy panhandling.

Now I was pretty far from home and on the edge of town where I normally do not go, so I was not expecting to see this guy here so far from where we normally see him. So I pulled over and parked 200’ away or so and called the Police, they told me I was in the West Side and not the East side town so I had to call the West Side’s police and they would get the information I need to complete the complaint I had filed against him. Ok, no problem.

So I call the West Side cops and after a 10 min discussion I convinced the dispatcher that yes, I did indeed need a officer to meet me so he sent one, and about 20 to 30 mins later an office showed up and as soon as the guy in question saw the cop car he crossed the 4 lane road to the East side. As soon as the cop got to me I explained the situation and the guy stood across the street watching us and the officer then told me, he is no longer in the West Side, but back in the East Side. Grrrrr.

But after talking to the West Side cop, he agreed to go over and ask his name and get whatever information he could get from him and asked me to drive 2 blocks away and he will met with me and fill me in on what he finds out. So I do as asked and a few minutes later I see an East Side cop drive by (double Grrrrrr) and then the West Side cop comes to where I am and gives me his name.

Said he had no ID and wanted no trouble, the Cop asked if he had a bike incident at the park, and the guy said no, and then asked in reference to me since he saw us talking, “Is that the guy” and the cop asked, “What guy”, he replies “The guy from the park”, the cop then said I thought you didn’t have any issues? And then he admitted that he almost ran into us since it was so dark. So he just confirmed everything. The West Side cop then said to be careful, that it sounds like he is pushing peoples buttons for no reason and that the next time it happens bad things could happen, and he says he doesn’t want to hurt anyone and it was an accident and wont happen again.

So we shall see. I called the East Side cops and gave the information of both the guy and the West Side cop, so everything is in order on my end. I truly hope this is the end of it. I am not really a violent person, but I am ½ Irish and ½ German which is a mean combination and I have been in many scraps when I was a wee lad and I will do whatever it takes to protect my wife.

I do feel somewhat bad that it has had to go this far, but what else can I do? I have to protect my wife and myself from harm and legal issues. I am also buying her some MACE today so she can have it with her when she rides to be more protected.

Not much to write about today, I made a quick meatloaf for lunch today since Pauline works until later tonight and I have been craving a meatloaf for a few days. So I whipped that together and threw it in the oven and then did a soft workout (sit ups and some bench press) not really in the mood to sweat today, she is going to ride her bike into work and I will meet her for the ride back tonight, so I will get some cardio in late tonight, which means I don’t have to do that treadmill crap. F*** hate that treadmill.

We been riding our bikes around this park near us since we moved to Florida, it’s a good sized square shaped park and total round trip is 6 miles I think so it’s a decent ride. Well about 8 months or so ago we was riding around 10am-11am and saw a biker heading toward us, and on the side of the park we was on it is just a normal size side walk, hardly room to ride side by side so I fallow her when one after the other. When we got closer to this biker we recognized him as a panhandler that we see constantly begging for money and as closer we got as far over to the right as did he so we could all pass.

About 10’ in front of Pauline, he “looked away” and aimed right toward her, it happen so fast all Pauline could do was go off the sidewalk and almost into a huge ditch, I was so stunned I didn’t even have time to stop fully and I started screaming at him and he kept on riding. We was both stunned and pissed, it happen so fast we didn’t even have time to think what just happen. So the next time we saw this guy which was 2-3 days later we stopped and I got in front and asked if he wanted to try that with me, he said “Have a good day boss” and kept riding.

January 1 2006, Pauline rode her bike in and worked later then she was suppose to, so I rode to meet her at the usual spot, and on the way home we was riding around this same park, but on a side where there are bike lanes, so its more then wide enough for 3 bikes to pass at once, it was dusk but still bright enough to see, there are street lights and we both have bright headlights on our bikes. So we are riding home and see a biker heading to us, I get behind Pauline and when he is closer I recognize him, and before I can say a word he does the exact same thing, “looks away” and aims right at her. This time I was more then livid, and Pauline physically had to stop me from chasing his ass down and beating him.

So I call the cops and they come and take our statement. I also talked to my lawyer and he told me exactly what I can and can not do, and to put it nicely I will not be stopped from knocking him on his ass if he ever comes near her again. I will do what I need to do to make sure he is there and the cops are called. The officer we spoke with agreed with my plan and told us to make sure we call the police the next time we see him. Which is funny, there is a main road off the park and that is where we always see him panhandling, always on that main road, any time we go out there’s a 75% chance we will see him, and we have not seen him since that night., Not holding my breath but the cop said he was going to go look for him and maybe he found him and had reason to deal with him.

I am not some “bum basher” or whatever, but there is no reason for this psycho to do what he is doing. I tend not to give money to panhandlers, a few years ago 20/20 or nightline whatever did a show on panhandlers and it was amazing how much money they can make, they actually fallowed a woman in New York from her very fancy home in the suburbs, she drove her fancy car to the train for the morning commute to the city where she then changed cloths and looked like a homeless person and she panhandled. So she was living a tax free life and the only “work” she did was asking people for money. They of course blurred her face. But I know that is not the only case, a kid in high school did an experiment and walked around asking for a dime from other students and teachers and at the end of the day had well over $20 in dimes. So keep that in mind when you see a “homeless person”, if you want to help them buy them a sandwich.

Well, I have to say, 2005 was a lot better then 2004, but 2004 was just a very bad year so anything after that has got to be better, but over all 2005 was a good year.

2005 started off some what shaky, completely lost a friendship that at one time meant a lot to us, but not lost for the reasons we was lead to believe which makes it even funnier now, the real reasons was just revealed to us last week while the “breakup” happen in March. Needless to say we have long been over losing this friendship, the new information just made the other people involved to be total lying hypocrites, which really just proved us right all along.

We also have been keeping our distances from mutual friends of both parties not wanting to get other people involved in affairs that did not concern them which is what this crap was all over with to begin with, people getting in things that was none of their business. So we are trying to get back with the people we distanced ourselves from for most of the last year and work out what issues we have and if things work out we will be most pleased, and if they do not work out then at least everyone knows it and can move on in life.

Moving on, not really much stands out in 2005 that was “bad” for us, we now live in a much larger and much better house, and there has been no real drama in our lives not counting the crap we had to deal with in February/March when it was “manufactured drama” so a drama queen could get her fix, cut ties with the drama queen, no more drama… funny how that works.

Sports wise was not a pretty year at all, the Pacers had made a valiant effort against the Pistons in the playoffs and Reggie Miller retired, which still breaks my heart, just isn’t the same, and now Ron Artest wanted traded and then a week later changed his mind, ha… don’t think so Ronnie, we stood by you thick and thin and you thank us by crying to the Press, a big f*** you and don’t let the door hit you in the ass. (YES, I will miss his talent and play)

Colts made a great run which was ended by the Chargers and then destroyed by the death of Dungy’s son, so now when it is ultra important to think of nothing but the Super Bowl, they can think of nothing but death. Time will tell of course, but I have for the first time all year doubt the Colts can beat the Pats for the AFC, the Pats are primed and ready and the Colts have too much baggage right now.

Purdue…. Holy crap…. NO HEART. NONE, ZERO, NOTTA…. Nice to see Drew Brees and a few other’s from Purdue’s past say the exact same thing, we have not had a team with true heart in 3-4 years and I’m thinking it’s time to do a coaching change, but I know it won’t happen, at least not this year, I just hope that another crappy to mediocre year that they will realize Tiller and staff have done all they could and it’s time to hire a “big name” and make a program, Tiller gave it a great start, but 9 years and 3-5 in bowls is not successful and having 11 returning starters from a top 10 defense go from the top 10 to 111 in the country….. That’s the wakeup call right there.

Travel wise, this was a pretty mellow year, we went to Buffalo NY twice, first time in February for a Super Bowl party, and then again in October for a Buffalo Bills game, both times we had a blast, although the October trip we stayed 2 days longer then we should have, but thanks to our host all was good. Pauline went to Indiana once in July and once in August, so she got to see family and friends, I stayed home and worked and had Jury duty to deal with.

Speaking of which, I had a long week and a half of jury duty in August, I won’t go into many details, but it started on a Monday and I was finally excused the fallowing Tuesday, 1 week and 1 day later, and it was truly pure hell as the case was Murder/Rape/Death Penalty and yes he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Not the ideal jury duty to get when it’s your first one and that is only ¼ of the story as there was a mistrial the first time they tried him, as well as so many legal issues with the jury, to say the least I am so glad my involvement only lasted 8 days.

Dang, I’m really struggling with what else I can say about 2005, over all I think it was a positive year, made some great business decisions which will hopefully pay off as well as we hope so we can finally expand to the areas that we have wanted to do for a few years now.

I still can not come up with anything that when I think of 2005 I think of….

Maybe something will come to mind, if so I will continue this post, I need to get back to work now.