Violated

It's a dark day for the Disgruntled Investor, as The Shadow Disgruntled Girlfriend, Jessica Alba, has apparently been impregnated by someone named "Cash". And no, that's not his last name. I can't help but think that if I only had a little more cash of my own, this would not have happened. This is even worse news than when Katie Holmes was implanted by her Scientology handlers with an alien baby. (Note to DG: No, Tom Cruise did not stick his wee-wee in her hoo-hah. Argument over.)

One Disgruntled Weekend

So, in the course of 24 hours, this is what I, as a Washington area sports fan, was subjected to:

Virginia Tech 33, Virginia 21 (football)
Seton Hall 74, Virginia 60 (basketball)
Memphis Grizzlies 124, Washington Wizards 118 [Also, Arenas out for 3 months]
Tampa Bay Bucaneers 19, Washington Redskins 13 [Also, Sean Taylor GOT SHOT IN THE GROIN...]

Virginia lost the football game primarily because, as the Washington Redskins of college football, our terrible secondary refuses to cover anybody, instead playing a light Cover-2 that allows unchecked 15 yard passes throughout the game. Also, Jameel Sewell, like Jason Campbell, far too often makes hasty passes when he should just use his natural running ability and scramble for a first down. But, what can you do? The Disgruntled Girlfriend yesterday remarked that, hey, 9-3 is a pretty good season. I quickly corrected her and said no, it's not. We lost to two horrible teams, and the only decent team we beat turned out to be Connecticut. It was at best a mediocre year. Sorry, I have low standards as a UVA fan, but this was pretty unbearable. Al Groh's not out of the woods with me yet. Of course, he'll probably get ACC coach of the year.

The UVA basketball loss to Seton is too terrible to even talk about. We can beat Arizona on the road but not Seton Hall on a neutral court.

Finally, the Wizards are the Wizards, and the Redskins are the Redskins. What can you do? Allow me to be among the first to suggest the unsuggestable - perhaps it's time for a coaching change for the Redskins. I hear Bill Cowher's available.

Anyway, so this weekend has me seriously considering a sports suicide - completely eschewing all sports watching, sports following, and sports caring. It's just getting too difficult to emotionally invest myself in these stupid games where these stupid teams make stupid mistakes and stupid lose. It drives me crazy that Boston-area fans right now are having an orgiastic feast while my teams, pretty much throughout my sporting life, have consistently let me down. Though I followed sports religiously through baseball and football cards throughout my 80's childhood, my loyalties were primarily directed towards individual players, as opposed to specific teams. My team loyalties, for some reason, emerged in 1991 - when, following a move down to Savannah, Georgia, I started following the Atlanta Braves, the Washington Redskins (the Falcons were, and always will be, utterly unloved in the state of Georgia), and the Washington Bullets.

From 1991 on, this is what I've gotten:
-Exactly one good year from the Redskins (thanks to this guy)
-The best regular season team, and worst playoff team, in baseball
-The Washington Bullets/Wizards

My college years found me residing at my beloved University of Virginia, where despite regular NFL draft picks (Tiki and Ronde Barber, Thomas Jones, Heath Miller, Matt Schaub, Wali Lundy, Patrick Kerney, etc.), the football team has consistently underachieved. Then, of course, there was the Pete Gillen basketball era - which saw numerous police arrests, an utter breakdown in discipline, and zero NCAA tournament wins. Thankfully, Dave Leitao seems to have turned things around, but, then there's that Seton Hall loss.

I've never, ever, experienced the sheer joy of a dynasty. I've never, ever, felt like any of my teams was going to blow out an opponent. I've never, ever, felt confident in a championship run. I feel like the dealer is constantly hitting 21 against my hard 20's. It's utterly, completely frustrating.

So, as of now, consider me on sports suicide watch.

(P.S. This is, of course, not to belittle the enormity of actual suicides, which is of course a very serious matter. Just wanted to head that off at the pass...)

Perhaps It Was An Ill-Advised Purchase

So, today is Day 846 of The Great Real Estate Investing Experiment. I thought it would be fun to reflect on the two plus years of this, and what I've had to go through. In that time, I've endured:

-2 house purchases
-2 failed house sales
-1 major housing downturn
-Roughly $80,000 in combined housing value drops, due to said housing downturn
-20 different tenants
-4 of which were mentally unstable and/or substance abusers
-1 of which was a phantom pooper
-4 water leaks causing extensive damage
-Including two in the past week
-Two sets of carpet replacement
-Two sets of hardwood/laminate replacement (one of which was due to one of the aforementioned water leaks)
-Two grease fires...in the same house...in the same kitchen...by two different tenants...within a month of each other...both made somewhat worse by their attempts to stop the fire by throwing water at it...the worst possible thing you can do with a grease fire
-0 condo association meetings attended
-2 condo fee increases agreed upon by those who actually attended those meetings
-1 pest problem
-1 of which was caused by the filthy, disgusting tenants and their filth

All of which has resulted in:
-1 Disgruntled Investor

Completely Expected

NC State 29, UVA 24

The good thing about being a Virginia football fan is that these losses are not in the least bit shocking or surprising. It helps to numb the pain of losing to a (previously) 2-5 team that hadn't beaten an ACC opponent in 9 straight games. Way to Groh, Al. ACC Coach of the Year!!

Still, it could have been worse. We could have lost on a play like this...