I know I've been talking about buying a place when my current lease expires, but now I wish I could find a way to break my lease without costing me an arm and a leg. The apartment complex keeps putting new rules in place, most have been minor tweaks but yesterday they sent out notice about two new programs.

The first is a change to the parking policy. We each need to go in and get an orange tag for the car we park in our garage. If an orange tagged car is parked outside between 6pm - 8am, it gets towed. Any additional cars need green tags and they can park in the lot. But the additional drivers need to be on the lease. CJ turned 18 after I signed the latest lease so he is only on as a child. They want me to pay $50 to add him to the lease before they will give him a green tag. K-Bug moved in after I signed the lease so I guess I'm stuck with having to pay the $50 so her car doesn't get towed. Currently our lots are lined badly and there is no distinction between resident and guest parking. Aparently that is changing and there will be 40 guest spots (for 250+ units). If a guest is parked in a resident spot between 6pm - 8am they will get towed. Oh, and to get either the orange or green tags you have to show them your car registration. Why do they need anything more than the license plate number? An utter mess but it is coming from the corporate offices so I know our local folks are just the middle men, but this is going to be painful.

The second thing applies to dog owners. They each need to voluntarily bring their dog in the office to get DNA swabbed and to get a tag for their collar (tags in new places). If they don't do this by the end of Feb, it will cost $50 to get swabbed. I'm assuming they will be going through the leases to see who has a dog on their lease. If you bring in a dog that isn't already on the lease, you will have to pay an added deposit and monthly fee. All this is so that they can DNA check any poop that isn't picked up and fine the owner $250. The maintenance guys, who are short handed on a good day, are the ones who have to do the poop patrol. Now, making owners responsible for cleaning up after their dogs is a good thing, but how much does all this DNA testing cost?!?

Lease is up June 15th. I'm ready to start a count down clock.

All this is so that they can DNA check any poop that isn't picked up and fine the owner $250.

!!!!!

These new regulations seem...excessive.

All this is so that they can DNA check any poop that isn't picked up and fine the owner $250.

I heard a story about that on NPR a year or so ago. It does seem like an excessive reaction to people who won't pick up their dog's poo, but then, in a big apartment complex, if you have several people a day (or more than once a day) leaving their dogs' poo where it lands, that's a bunch of poo for maintenance to clean up.

So because some people can't be grownups, we have to turn to DNA checking of poo.

They are DNA testing dog poop!?! Maybe they should donate that money to test the backlog of rape kits.

There was a whole This American Life thing about the dog poop DNA testing! All of that sounds nuts.

Only certain individuals have permission to send messages to that group. So, individuals in the group can't reply all to a message from the group.

Oh man, that is brilliant. My Outlook at least gives me a heads up when I'm replying all to a lot of people...

These new regulations seem...excessive.

Dana chose a much nicer word than I would have. Crossing all available digits that you find your true house and get out get out GET OUT of there.

Wow, Suzi!

Did you know that meteorological Spring starts on March 1st?

I did not. I don't think I can assimilate this new information.

I did see a robin yesterday, but I think we might have them year round.

It's Act Two, here: [link]

I don't expect to see crocuses till March, but they're often poking their heads up through snow. I also expect to see snow in May. I like seeing tulips with snow inside them.

The apartment complex keeps putting new rules in place, most have been minor tweaks but yesterday they sent out notice about two new programs.

If they're changing the rules of your lease, can't you? That doesn't seem fair.