Andrew Ferguson dot NET

When I last left off, the lady downstairs was banging banging banging.

Well, the next morning I walked out to check the mail and I saw that a representative from the Golden Police Department had left a business card with a note on back:

Received noise complaint on 12/14/2006 at 1:05AM

The interesting thing is that the officer didn’t knock last night, so I’m guessing they didn’t take the complain seriously or assumed that it had stopped before they got here.

I talked with Dad and he talked with Laurel Property Services. Then I talked with Laurel Property Services. I was very disappointed by how Laurel decided to deal with the situation. Their suggestion was to call the police if she banged again. Okaaaay.

I did some more thinking and talked to some more people. I finally decided to go talk to her, although somewhat reluctantly. The conversation went something like this:
Me: “So, there was some knocking last night.”
Her: “Yeah.”
Me: “And I’m trying to figure out why.”
Her: “You were noisy and woke me up.”
Me: “Okay. We’ll, I’ve tried to keep noise to a minimum. I’ve worked out in the living room when possible, but sometimes it’s not, and I’ve had my Uncle, who’s a carpenter come and install screws to help minimize the squeaking. That’s seemed to help a bit, at least from what I can hear. I don’t think there’s anything more I can do.”
Her: “Last year, Logan studied in the living room and that seemed to work pretty well.”
(My jaw figuratively dropped in my head; did she just say that?)
Me: “Have you tried calling Laurel?”
Her: “Yes, they said to call the police.”
(I found this part interesting…almost like Laurel is playing both sides)
Her, continuing: “I’ve been nice and haven’t called them all semester, but last night was just too much. I’ve been constantly late to work. Before you moved in, I was never late. I may lose my job because of this. ”
(Inner commentary: “One word lady: earplugs”)
Me: “Well, okay then. Thanks for your time.”

And I left. Did I just have this conversation? I called the non-emergency police number and informed them that I was having a dispute with my neighbor and would like an officer sent over. The dispatcher asked if I would be willing to go to mediation. “Sure!” I said, “Anything at this point.” She gave me the number for the Jefferson County Mediation. I gave them a call. The called back the next day and left a message. They seemed very nice. I’m going to call them tomorrow to get the ball rolling so that I can get this all figured out right when I get back.

Update: It’s up! Check it out: GottaBeAStudent and The Myth of Battery Life. Also a special thanks to Mom and Dad for A) proof reading it, and B) providing me with a title.

Starting later today, I’ll be doing a series of articles on GottaBeMobile.com that deals with tablet issues from a student perspective. We’ll, at least from my perspective (if you know me, you know that I can bring a unique perspective to anything).

GottaBeMobile is the site for Tablet PC information, so it’s a pretty big honor to write for them.

I also need to take a moment to point out the incredible irony that finds me, an engineer, writing in a situation like this. One of the reasons I went to Mines was to get away from all the writing that high school and humanities classes had. Yet, I find my self blogging several times a week on my personal site and writing articles for two outside sites.

In any event, it’s going to be more of an article based series, rather than the short and informative posting I do like to do at StudentTabletPC.com. However, I think many will find them just as helpful.

I’ll post again when I put up the first article later today.

I’d also like to thank Rob for giving me (and STPC) a chance to expand my (our) audience and Tracy for letting me get away with it . Rob was also very helpful and kind in helping me make the decision to contribute to GBM, including helping me with a list of topics.

Dad called me today to let me know that I should print my boarding pass online when I fly back for Thanksgiving.

Then he wanted to know if I wanted to grab some food tomorrow. He’s in town!

Brian flies back tomorrow, Dad flies back Sunday, and I fly back Monday.

Poor Mom, she’s going to be driving to the airport a lot.